Athletic (I know, sorry) on NIL, recruiting, coaches from HS recruit POV
Recruiting confidential: High school football stars dish on NIL deals, arrogant coaches and more (paywalled link)
Free Archive.is link
Consume with the understanding that data is not the plural of anecdote.
Multiple recruits said they went for the development/team atmosphere rather than the bag. (Why isn't our recruiting better then?)
Saban is a robot, Deion is an arrogant ass.
Harbaugh got a "nice guy" mention but that seemed to be a round robin section where everyone got name dropped.
As always, avoid the comments.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:49 AM ^
Nobody will admit they signed for the bag. They'll say "culture," "development" and "engineering program."
January 6th, 2024 at 10:55 AM ^
Yes. Even if these players are under a veil of anonymity, they won't admit it to themselves either.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:56 AM ^
I signed with the school who offered me the best NIL deal. Other schools threw a lot of big numbers out, but the school I signed with I trusted I’d get the money because I saw other guys got it.
But when I read something like this, I can't really blame a kid.
I didn’t sign with the school who offered me the biggest NIL deal I could’ve gotten, but coming from where I come from, any money I receive from a college is life-changing money.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:18 PM ^
I wish more ppl would think this way when kids get legal money offered to them. They aren't bad kids for accepting nil money. And picking a school based on the best nil package when all other factors are similar isn't crazy either.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:24 PM ^
No one thinks they're "bad kids," but this isn't "legal" money. Pay for play is still "against the rules" according to the NCAA, but they won't enforce it.
Unless Michigan does it.
January 6th, 2024 at 2:55 PM ^
Yeah. Seeing Denard mention that he hosted coaches at his grandparents house because he was self-conscious of where he lived was really sad. For many of these kids, this is life changing money and I can't fault them one bit for getting it when they can.
January 6th, 2024 at 1:20 PM ^
I signed with the school who offered me the best NIL deal.
I thought NIL inducement deals were illegal, no?
What is the actual rule on what you can offer to high school recruits, and what you can't?
January 6th, 2024 at 2:51 PM ^
Inducements are certainly illegal. It's just that the NCAA isn't going to do shit about it because they're afraid of losing again in court.
January 7th, 2024 at 6:41 AM ^
"I thought NIL inducement deals were illegal, no? "
NIL inducements are against the rules, just like dropping the bag was ... But generally aren't illegal just like dropping the bag wasn't.
January 6th, 2024 at 6:04 PM ^
Why is it so unethical for Michigan to offer the bag? What is one good reason not to do it? And I don’t wanna hear team player BS. Michigan goes after some of the top players now so it’s not mutually exclusive.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:16 PM ^
I don't think it's unethical, I truly think Michigan coaches are afraid to do it less the NCAA come after them.
January 6th, 2024 at 10:52 AM ^
Also probably because only a small percentage of the 30,000 D1 football players will actually will be offered a "Bag!"
This opinion is based on my own personal conceptual definition of "Bag"
January 6th, 2024 at 10:54 AM ^
Ole Miss?
I had another school offer me the same NIL deal in total, but with a signing bonus. The signing bonus would’ve been basically a really nice car. The NIL deal is like an NFL rookie contract. I had an agent handle it all for me. As soon as NIL came out, my dad was like, “You need an agent.” When schools call, they have the position coach, head coach and the money man from the collective call you. That last guy is the one who talks about NIL with the agent.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:12 AM ^
Nothing like a Lamborghini as a little deal sweetener…
January 6th, 2024 at 11:37 AM ^
more likely a charger or something in the $60K - $70K range. not everyone is worthy of a G-wagon!
January 6th, 2024 at 1:00 PM ^
Hiring an agent would make me feel so dirty. I hate working with real estate agents because I don't trust them. Can't imagine trying to find a predatory sports agent.
January 6th, 2024 at 1:36 PM ^
Now I can really see why the NCAA was so up-in-arms over a cheeseburger.
January 6th, 2024 at 2:30 PM ^
It all starts with the cheeseburger. Then the next thing you know kids are driving Lamborghinis.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
If you want to boycott the Athletic because of their signgate coverage, that’s fine.
I find that they’re a damn good outlet for the most part - see today’s video breakdown by nick baumgartner - and so I continue to frequent it.
To continue to read it, share links and summaries, but then couch it with a ‘but we all know they really suck so don’t go there and comment or anything’ is pretty spineless.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:22 AM ^
100%.
my life is way too short to maintain this weird enemies list of entire organizations that i can no longer interact with. it’s like the “boycott gameday and f*** espn forever” thing. don’t steal your own joy, people.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:37 AM ^
Honestly, I'm just commenting on the hypocrisy of having an enemy/boycott list, but still posting content from that list. The whole "we all know they suck and don't give them clicks" disclaimer comes off as "don't take my Michigan fan card please," which shouldn't be on the table if you're posting a solid article.
But I agree that keeping an enemies list is exhausting and pointless, and it is getting to be a long list at this point (ESPN with the SEC bias, Freep because of stretchgate, and now the Athletic because of signgate). I'm okay with bans on the rumor-mill garbage sites, but the "they gave unfavorable, unfair coverage of Michigan" angle is insecure and comes off like "DISRESPEKT!"
January 6th, 2024 at 12:25 PM ^
Oh please, like this is so difficult. It's simply NOT going to a crappy website.
You literally have to do nothing here, and that's apparently too much for you?
January 6th, 2024 at 12:26 PM ^
boy, did you miss my point. hard.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:29 PM ^
I didn't miss it; I just didn't care. Whatever your take, the relevant action was to not do something, and that was just too much of a strain for you.
That's called addiction.
January 6th, 2024 at 1:21 PM ^
nope, still missing my point.
which is that i’m not going to decide to click or not click on something based on whether somebody that’s affiliated with the organization said something mean about my favorite team at some point in the past.
i also don’t watch the college football nerds, and I didn’t click on that dude’s tiktok either, not because they’re pro- or anti-michigan but because their content sucks ass.
you seem to be hung up on it, so i’ll tell you - i didn’t click the article. or maybe i did. it doesn’t really matter either way. i also don’t care if you want to maintain some sort of lifelong grudge against espn, freep, the athletic, or the seven dwarves on loan from disneyland. fire it up and enjoy.
January 9th, 2024 at 2:20 PM ^
Always certain users display negativity for no reason. His hatred for certain outlets has caused him to insult me personally as well if you look through his post history.
In other words, he is exactly the type of person that he claims to hate and copes on this board for some reason
January 6th, 2024 at 11:48 AM ^
Demonstrating a lack of integrity to trash an institution for clicks moves my hand from my wallet.
The athletic and ESPN are garbage organizations.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
Great. I think you missed my point.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:49 PM ^
Oy. I think you're projecting, and criticizing things I didn't say. But that's my opinion of your comment, so I won't use it as a basis for making personal character attacks.
The AIA was for the inevitable chorus of "The Athletic sucks," and "cancelled my subscription to that trash" comments that permeate this board, so in an attempt to short circuit those remarks, I instead get meta-comments criticizing me for acknowledging a pervasive theme on this board. I obviously read it, by dint of my New York Times subscription (another media outlet that gets criticism from all angles: too liberal, too tolerant of fascism, etc...) I don't think I'd pay for it, but I obviously don't boycott it either. As for the comments section; 1) I was quoting an internet trope of sage advice, and 2) I find their comments full of irrational Harbaugh haters and signgate fanatics. If you want to wade into that sewer, you do you.
In the mean time I bid you a happy new year, Go Blue! and perhaps,
January 6th, 2024 at 1:42 PM ^
So what you're saying is you went Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger to try and head off the "The Athletic sucks" complaints. But, in trying to bring Da Funk, you came Face to Face with the fact that we are Human After All?
January 6th, 2024 at 1:53 PM ^
Yeah, maybe "spineless" was a little harsh. I think it's the pervasive crap on the board you mentioned, in which people want to police what media is Michigan approved, that bugs me. Your attempt to head off that crap makes sense, but I'd rather us not kowtow to the Michigan purity test crowd, so I want to encourage that (apparently in a negative way).
Yeah, I'm picking a meta fight on a Saturday morning. I'm not pacing back and forth swearing under my breath even if it sounds like it. Happy new year to you too.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:07 AM ^
When they say money doesn't matter, they mean not jumping for a marginally better offer when they're getting a substantial amount (say $50k+) from the school they prefer.
Michigan struggles when we offer substantially less compared to our competitors.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:07 AM ^
I think that signing bonus should only be awarded if you graduate. No sense in a kid signing, giving him thousands of dollars for him to then jump and leave the following year (Dante Moore). Like this really is just get the money and worry later.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:11 AM ^
In the corporate world, if you change jobs before some amount of time, the signing bonus, or some portion of it, has to be paid back. I could see some vesting period. Stay 1 year, vest 1/3, stay 2 years, vest 2/3. It’s all just a contractual matter, so the one player who mentioned getting an agent early on was doing the right thing.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:31 AM ^
But the signing bonuses are illegal per ncaa and you can’t make rules around illegal activities.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:23 PM ^
What if the coach or coaches leave? Or tell them they won’t be playing at that school because of the next piece of sliced bread coming in?
Still a ton of kinks in this model.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:08 AM ^
And this is why we shouldn't pay too much attention to what these recruits do on Twitter/X, etc.
Did you partake in any trolling of fan bases with comments on social media for your personal enjoyment?
• A little bit. I’d put out photos of myself at a school I wasn’t visiting just to see what people might say. There were times I’d put out like statements — like you’d do if you were decommitting — to scare people. You just need to have fun sometimes.
• I loved messing with fan bases. I did that to the school I almost signed with.
• Yeah. I was trolling (a rival school), like posting stuff saying I was gonna commit there. I was just doing it for fun.
• Me and one of my high school teammates would send out certain hashtags and emojis to get fan bases from other teams on social media riled up. It was more about being bored and wanting to do something to see how people might react.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:12 AM ^
I know these are teenagers, but these kids need something better to do.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:04 PM ^
As opposed to grown men salivating at the whims of children? They wouldn't take the bag if it wasn't offered and they wouldn't troll you if you didn't react.
January 6th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
'Michigan had these taco food trucks that were off the chain. I’ll never forget it."
January 6th, 2024 at 12:17 PM ^
I could see it from the other perspective in that our coaches may purposely not want a recruit so into the NIL side of things to sign as many are saying or later bringing up here.
Fit may be bigger from our Coaches perspective (as Mike Hart has said) and we know certain other schools negative recruit so the NCAA Scum stain and Harbaugh NFL flirtation are not positives.
Not surprising where we are given all these things and no pay to play philosophy. I like this years class as a build a bear group and they had some chemistry coming in.
Water finds its level.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:26 PM ^
You knew and you did it anyway.
January 6th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
See above.
January 7th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
Sports journalism has made the full transition to Buzz feed articles. There’s nothing worth reading that’s off this site.