We cannot leave well enough alone, now can we? As a society, we love to meddle and consume ourselves with other people's business, mostly because we cannot stomach the lives we are currently leading. It is the sad state of existence in today's world, so the wonderful world of NIL shall be no different. Man, have we opened up another can of worms with this serious allegation on it now?
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart told Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports "that collectives are striking deals with high school recruits to keep and gain their commitments -- paying them as much as $20,000 a month in this unregulated market. If they de-commit, they are being asked to return the compensation." So a top college football recruit can make $100,000 over a semester for being loyal?
This is not about Georgia getting or not getting someone. It is all about the entire system being established on a house of cards with an even flimsier foundation. It is why Deloitte is setting up a college sports clearinghouse for NIL called "NIL Go". This is to make sure every NIL deal is legit. Dellenger does a far better job of explaining what all is going on in this with his latest for Yahoo.
This feels like NIL is becoming part of the FDIC, but who knows what each collective is trying to do.
Smart argued that teams who are recruiting abnormally well are taking advantage of this system.
Why is Kirby Smart so mad about the state of college football NIL?
Look. This is not about Georgia as much as it is about the rest of the sport. Georgia regularly recruits inside the top 10 as a top-five program of today and a top-15 program of all time. It is about those punching up and trying to have a seat at the big kid's table. Collectives appear to be gumming up the process and preventing free enterprise from happening. NIL is still the wild west, but it is being tamed.
Not to say Smart's opinions of this are directly tied to what one of his former players experienced coming out of high school, but he did coach Jaden Rashada for a year. His recruitment was a nasty mess, painting everyone involved in an awful light. We also saw a former quarterback of a rival team in Nico Iamaleava leave Tennessee abruptly for less money at UCLA over a hostile internal NIL debate.
What I am gathering from all this is there could be even more dirty money being exchanged under the table than we even realized. Collectives are not part of a university, but serve as a slimy conduit to one. Again, this is not about Georgia missing out on recruits, but rather prospective teenagers effectively being paid hush money to stay silently with the team that offered them the biggest bag.
Eventually, we will get the regulations the players and coaches deserve. Everybody deserves to get a slice of the pie, but we cannot be handing out pies that do not meet the requirements of the FDA of college football. Red tape will kill us all, but not as fast as red meat will. For the last time, these are kids. Many of them want to do the right thing. They may not always have the best people in their ears.
Bringing in $20,000 a month to stay quiet for one year could give a kid who cannot even vote nearly $250,000!