NIL Collectives and the transfer portal have changed college football completely. Is it for better or worse in the current situation?

The NCAA needs to take action and establish some rules and regulations for NIL and the transfer portal. The SEC has some of the deepest pockets in the country for funding their NIL Collectives. However, the current state of college football is hurting the game, high school recruiting and creating an uneven playing field.

The NCAA refused to pay the athletes for years while hundreds of millions of dollars were made because of them. There is a high percentage of these athletes that do not come from a good financial situation. While the athletes did get a college scholarship, they still struggled for basic needs.

NIL is a good thing. What is not a good thing is the bidding war that has started between the top Universities. The transfer portal has impacted NIL by an athlete transferring to another school for more money in some cases. It used to mean something to go to school somewhere and the athlete had pride in their school.

In recent years, that is less common and more about money, some 18-21-year-olds are making millions in NIL in mostly the SEC and the Big 10. The NCAA needs to have a salary cap because no 18-21-year-old needs millions of dollars while in school. They will get in trouble, lose their drive and work ethic, and more.

The SEC has big branded schools like Texas, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and more that have loads of money. NIL was supposed to allow athletes to make money through local businesses and advertisements and have nothing to do with the school itself. That is not the case, although the NIL collectives are not joined with the school directly they still are linked.

Ole Miss QB Jaxon Dart just signed an NIL deal with a private jet company. Why does a college kid NEED a private jet NIL deal? I am not saying that is not awesome but it is not needed. Maybe not with Dart, but if similar deals continue to happen someone is going to get hurt, party the money away, or a business could lose a lot of money if the athlete does not play well.

The transfer portal is hurting high school recruiting because schools are going and getting players out of the transfer with experience in college rather than high school kids. It is harder than ever to get a scholarship to a big-time school out of high school. That is not going to change any team that can get someone that is older and more experienced will do that. It is going to cost them money though because the majority of transfers want NIL deals.

The NCAA has put the game in jeopardy because they refuse to adapt to the change and now it is the wild wild west. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years with the NCAA and how they handle this situation.