My, how times have changed from my days in high school in the 1990s. If someone from your hometown got a sports scholarship somewhere, they were a hometown hero. Now, it’s about the guy from your hometown and their agent ($$).
Programs developing reputations in world of NIL
The big NIL spenders, according to high school prospects, are becoming clearly defined. The usual suspects like USC, Oregon, Texas A&M and LSU dominate the high-end offers, new programs are trying to enter the arms race.
UCLA, Cal and North Carolina were frequently cited as “most open” regarding NIL discussions with recruits. For UCLA and Cal, NIL is a tool to ignite fanbases under first-year coaches; for UNC, it’s about providing Bill Belichick the resources to improve the program’s fortunes in year two. Their pitch is simple: “This is your minimum offer, this is what it could grow to, and if you perform, we’ll reset the table.”
Conversely, Georgia was the program most frequently cited for offering substantially less than some of its peers. Kirby Smart‘s program sells NFL development as a long-term financial play that outweighs an upfront NIL check. (emphasis added)
The article also cites that high school kids are now seeing that their NIL valuation is $300,000 and they start upselling from there, asking for a million or more.
Whatever happened to the good ole days of getting a Trans Am and your family a fat stack of Benjamins in a McDonald’s back, huh?
Anyway, I can hear Kirby’s recruiting pitch now. “I’ll offer you the minimum, but by the time you leave you’ll be asking for the supermax at the draft. Max we can give is 2 million a year, max a NFL team can offer is limitless. One of these things isn’t like the other, and if you don’t believe me, I can put you on the phone with Roquan, Jordan, Ladd, Brock, Jalen…just ask. They’ll tell ya, the NFL scouts will tell ya, you’re gonna be rich someday, but it ain’t gonna be right now. You can make millions for a few years at the other place, but you’ll be working for $50,000 a year three years later as a staffer at a company somewhere, and you’ll watch the guys who came here playing on Sundays wishing “why didn’t I go to Georgia”. I’ll take care of ya, but you’re gonna have to fight for it. I’m not paying you more than the guy in front of you who has been going through five years of hell on earth we call Bloody Tuesdays and SEC games and you wouldn’t want that, either. Take it or leave it, it’s my way, and you gotta trust me on this.”
Woof. I’d buy that for a dollar.