College Football Transfer Portal And NIL
Shedeur Sanders is the the highest paid college football player having made $4.5 million already.
Would you rather have an inexperienced rookie or have a seasoned veteran? You might be thinking that it is an easy question but this is what a lot of college coaches and programs are faced with this offseason more than ever. And like expected they are starting to lean towards the seasoned veteran that they can find in the transfer portal.
The transfer portal is like free agency for college football, it is a place where colleges can go and find players who have already played and spent time in the college environment rather than picking up an inexperienced young player right out of high school. The problem with this is it makes it drastically harder to make it onto a college roster for high schoolers because a majority of scholarships are going to the transfers and not to the high schoolers.
For example Lane Kiffin and Mike Norvell of Ole Miss and FSU are using the transfer portal in a huge way to upgrade their roster. But they simply just can’t compete with a team like Ohio State.
Some people think that Ohio State, a team with infinite resources, has spent around $13 million on players in the portal. Including guys like Caleb Downs a star safety from Alabama, Will Howard starting QB for Kansas State and Quinshon Judkins a star running back that was amazing at Ole Miss. OSU now has the number one running back, center, quarterback and number one safety in the transfer portal in one year. OSU could secure these players for a multitude of reasons but the financial gain was definitely in the back of these players minds.
But some people feel that these types of situations are not NIL but paying for a player's roster value. For example Lane Kiffin says “Kiffin has repeatedly and correctly pointed out that most of the dollars flowing to athletes are for their value as athletes. That Caitlin Clark Nike ad? That’s a true NIL deal. The deals most power conference football players make with collectives are not. They mostly reflect a player’s roster value”(ON3.com).
Similarly Deion Sanders, head coach for the Colorado Buffaloes says, "We're not an ATM. That's not gonna happen here," in response to his problem with recruits leaving and going to Colorado to get rich as he also says in the interview. He went on to say "If you come to Colorado to play football for me and the Colorado Buffaloes, it's because you really want to play football and receive a wonderful education. You're not coming here to get rich”.
These are just the problems arriving in the early years of NIL,since its implementation in 2021. The problems with the transfer portal and NIL don't end in college; they are affecting high school recruits just as much. Coach Prime says that they are only taking 4-5 high school recruits at all this year. The Wire says “Coaches like Sanders find themselves drawn to the experience and readiness of college transfers over the uncertainty that comes with high school recruits.”
This can make for a whole new road for high school athletes aspiring to play Division 1 football. Suggesting that maybe a year in a smaller lesser division or school then entering the transfer portal once they have some experience could be a safer option than attempting to earn a scholarship at a major D1 program out of high school. This could be a major problem for high school athletes but I believe there will be spots available for them although they might be limited or not at the blue blood programs there will still be opportunity to get to the big stage of college football.