January 3rd, 2022 at 4:48 PM ^
I guess everyone is headed to Texas A&M for that sweet, sweet NIL money
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
Introducing the Portal and NIL at the same time is not going to end well.
Unrestricted free agency with no salary cap.
Get ready for the thermonuclear $$$ arms race.
I mean, beyond the one we already have.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:28 PM ^
Going to be great for all the 4 and 5 stars sitting on the bench at Alabama, Georgia, and others. I don't recall the name of the defensive 5 star that picked Bama over us (maybe 8 ish years ago) , but I do recall him being a second stringer in his junior year.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:40 PM ^
DeShawn Hand, liked bama for their engineering program ???
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:27 PM ^
What programs did Laquon Treadwill and Isiah Wilson study again?
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:40 PM ^
DeShawn Hand. He did have a third down TFL in a National Championship game at Bama so it's hard to say he made a mistake.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:07 PM ^
Plus he is playing in the NFL so there is that.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:37 PM ^
I thought the Lions released him.
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:18 PM ^
They did. I haven't heard of anyone picking him up yet. (But it's not like I follow it closely.)
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:06 PM ^
Going to be great for all the 4 and 5 stars sitting on the bench at Alabama, Georgia, and others
Who says they'll sit on the bench? If they don't play they'll enter the portal.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:01 PM ^
…. Which is why the unrestricted free agency with no salary cap created by the portal and NIL is going to be great for all the 4 and 5 stars sitting on the bench at Alabama, Georgia, and others
Did you not read the thread you’re responding to?
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:49 PM ^
Portal bout to get lit
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:11 PM ^
It used to be for playing time by bench warmers.
Now it's going to be for NIL $$$ by starters.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:50 PM ^
You already know he's going to follow Lincoln to southern cal
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
This is big news. Reports that Georgia is "offering" $1-2 million. We are this close to buying players. You can't tell me that some schools won't reach out to players..."Oh, hey! Unhappy there? Want a few million?"
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
Feel like some sort of NIL aka salary cap would have to be implemented at this point given all this craziness. Or maybe that's just sour grapes talking.
Maybe Tom Brady can help us out and just sponsor our whole team
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:58 PM ^
With an assist from Stephen Ross.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:24 PM ^
No dude. A cap just gives the Bama's, O$U's, Clemson's, and Georgia's of the world a new line to cross and cheat again. No restrictions is going to be a mess and a joke, but at least it's finally fair
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^
The people who thought this was cool were/are nuts.
Boosters: What would you say to a million dollars?
Player: Sure, but what's the business angle?
Boosters: Come and rake our lawn? We'll have the AD draw up the paperwork.
As if this roadrace to the bottom couldn't have been foreseen. . .
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:59 PM ^
Do you think this wasn't already happening a many schools already. At least the boosters are getting their yards raked now.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:02 PM ^
We can have recruits do ? runs for Warde and to unclog his toilet after his White Castle benders.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:59 PM ^
Overpaying is the new Oversigning.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:03 PM ^
At least Caleb Williams is a known quantity. Ohio State NIL paid Quinn Evers that kind of coin and got nothing. This is an issue though — these dudes become free agents. Crazy
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:36 PM ^
I hope they saved their receipt.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:01 PM ^
That’s not what happened, Ewers was never paid “OSU” NIL money. The biggest deal he has was from a Kambucha company, based in….wait for it…Texas. Ewers played the game, he was never going to play at OSU, he just went there for a few months to skip HS and cash checks. He was always going to Texas and played everyone. It’s was only after he failed to strong arm the Texas high school athletic association into allowing HS NIL money that he signed so he could get the checks. From a financial perspective, you can’t blame him. If Texas goes up In flames he wasted his 1 time free transfer and would have to sit, but everything is a calculated risk.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:48 PM ^
This was already happening. Now it's in the open.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:35 PM ^
In a world where coaches aren't making 100 million, schools aren't making BILLIONS, and CTE doesn't exist, I agree this is crazy and should be stopped. Unfortunately, we live in reality where all those other things are true. Go get paid while you can if that's your goal.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:59 PM ^
Good. Whatever helps funnel the billions of dollars generated by the industry toward the talent that makes the machine run is a a good thing.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
This is pretty near-sighted. What it will do is kill any possibility of instilling a more competetive climate in college ball, cement three or four teams at the top forever, and drain the fun or fairness from it for the remaining 120 or so teams once and for all. But fools from places like Michigan will continue to kid themselves that they are just a half-step from success. . . for decades to come. Watch.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:15 PM ^
Yes it sucks to be in this kind of Hunger Games environment. But until they put a stop to it, if ever, it's good to be one of the players that has some weapons for once.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:17 PM ^
So? Nothing you said justifies not paying these kids their actual value for playing an extremely violent sport that generates billions of dollars.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:03 PM ^
No, that would be great. But that's not what's happening. Instead, we said, "Hey, let's apply the same shitty dog-eat-dog system to the players that we have to the game!" And a lot of extremely short-sighted people, trained like monkeys lifelong to celebrate a bad system, went woof woof. For a second. It's as if in trying to address the fact that players were exploited--which they were--someone decided to place a few of them on a professional basis, in a totally haphazard, completely unregulated fashion. Knowing that only some would be able to take advantage (maybe the QB at Miami of Ohio can set up a lemonade stand outside their stadium in--checks map--Oxford, Ohio. . . and a bunch of credulous onlookers believed that this would bring credibility, transparency, and probity to the game? C'mon!)
Just because a bunch of yahoos think something is right doesn't make it so. Viz. the flat earth that everyone KNEW was flat before Fig Newton. A hard core of fans, of whom I am not one, will continue to watch because they have. . . not much else of value to fill their lives. The sport itself will be further cheapened, its audience continue to dwindle. Lotta people here right now claiming they won't watch the championship, and that's between two of the chief beneficiaries.
Or this version of Soviet-style cowboy capitalism will grow out of control so quickly that Congress will step in and further sully it.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:24 PM ^
True, that. There was a ton of parity and way more than 3-4 teams at the top prior to NIL.........
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:48 PM ^
See, I think that take is the one that is short-sighted.
There's going to be a flurry for sure in the next 3-5 years of certain new-money schools overpaying. It's like when a new Russian or Asian oligarch buys a soccer team. And then after a few years, A&M boosters are gonna be like "what, I'm paying millions and we're still finishing 8-4 and losing to Bama and LSU and Georgia every year. Why am I doing this?"
If anything, I think this allows schools like Michigan, or Notre Dame, to stay competitive 20 years from now. Those types of schools who were fading based on the trajectory of where recruits live, what sorts of ethical gray area they were going to have to wade deeper into to stay even in the top 10-15 recruiting rankings, let alone top 5 where you need to be to actually compete for a title, it was a losing a battle.
Now, you'll have more kids in Georgia or Florida or Texas who are willing to suck it up and buy a winter coat with all the new found money that MICH can give them.
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:05 PM ^
I'm starting to lose it for college football.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:53 PM ^
The schools don’t reach out to the players, that would be a direct violation. They reach out to their old high school coach to talk about another player and then say, hey we are looking for a QB and have $XX in NIL for the position. If QB X is looking, we have a home for him.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
Going to South Carolina to haunt Spencer Rattler…lol
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
Hey, maybe Rattler will transfer back to OU now.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^
Do you have any remaining eligibility, Bob?
If yes, jump on some of that sweet NIL $$$ you missed out on when you QB'd @ Michigan in the days of Bump Elliott!
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:08 PM ^
Timberlake is still feeling guilty from the free box of Milk Duds an assistant coach gave him in 1964…
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:57 PM ^
Venables and the AD just released this bizarre and cringe worthy statement. Apparently he is considering staying on but if I were him I would not appreciate being recruited in public like this
"Caleb William enjoyed an exciting and impactful first season at the University of Oklahoma and we will continue to be engaged with him and his family on a comprehensive plan for his development as a student and a quarterback, including a path to graduation and strategic leveraging of NIL opportunities. While we believe OU provides Caleb the best opportunity to develop as a player and realize his goals for college and beyond, we respect his right to explore his options following key staffing changes here.
OU's commitment to student-athlete development and its powerful track record of preparing players for the next level, including quarterbacks for the NFL, is unparalleled. Jeff Lebby is one of the most elite offensive coordinators and quarterback developers in the country. With the players we know are returning and new ones on the way, we will continue to be explosive on offense under his direction.
This program, which has won more games than any other since 1999, is blessed with talented individuals up and down the roster and on its coaching staff. We stand ready to build on the momentum of last year's 11 wins and bowl victory, and to continue OU's long-standing championship tradition"
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
This program, which has won more games than any other since 1999
We have won more games than anyone else since this completely and totally random date we chose
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:13 PM ^
They could have just said “this century” and it would only be a one year difference. I’m guessing they don’t have the most wins since 2000?
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
Get used to it.
There is a second recruiting season now: The Portal. Both to get players out of it, and to keep your players from going into it.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:03 PM ^
Oklahoma is kind of an objectively fascinating situation. Power program, long history, contemporarily a great producer of QBs and conference titles and playoff berths. They hired Brent Venables, perhaps the best assistant coach of any kind in the country, and just nabbed the hot-recruiting DL coach that worked under him at Clemson--a huge blow to the program that was right up there with Bama for most of the playoff era.
On the other hand, they lost their hot young coach to USC, both of their star QBs are in the portal and... they're in Oklahoma. I mean, it's on the border with Texas, but otherwise, there's not much to separate Oklahoma as an institution and a program from a place like Nebraska, with whom Oklahoma shares a long history. And we've seen what has happened to Nebraska.
Really interested to see how this turns out. Selfishly, I hope that Michigan hitting an upswing just as the NIL era dawns will work to our favor and perhaps against a couple of other powers, but who knows?
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:05 PM ^
Who doesn't grow up dreaming of spending their college years in Norman, Oklahoma?
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
Norman, OK is a hot wet dream for my tornado chasing meteorology friends
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
A lot of people forget they were irrelevant the entire decade of the 90s.
They struck gold on Stoops. And he was just turning 40 at the time. But say they didn't hit a 10/10 on him. They might still be flailing around like Nebraska.
They don't have intrinsic advantages in state. Now they are heading to a schedule where they'll trade in games with Kansas and TCU for LSU and Bama.
Venables is a lit bit of an odd ball to boot.
He could do well. Or he could be a career super assistant miscast as a head man.
Lincoln Riley is no dummy. This was a lateral and vertical move.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:58 PM ^
I tend to think Oklahoma is headed down the Nebraska road. Awful move going to the SEC. I think they'll be swallowed whole. Commence rock fights with Vanderbilt, S. Carolina, Miss St and Missouri.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:34 PM ^
They nabbed a nap or napped a nab?