Do you think the NIL market will sort itself out?

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These boosters spending millions for recruiting classes have to realize at some point that their ROI is awful. A&M is a perfect example.

Upperclassmen will begin to get jealous (already are) of freshman coming in with huge deals and haven't played a snap.

When will the trend start going to rewarding those that have done something on the field and made a name for themselves at the school they're playing for? That's the root of the NIL, it was never intended to be a free agency market.

Have we seen a big NIL deal actually pan out for performance on the field? You could argue Bryce Young was a decent investment, but I don't know.

I am just sick of the bidding wars, it's pathetic and disingenuous of the players to go to a school just for the $$$.

Earn it on the field, fellas

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To some extent. But cheating has been going on for years and years. The only difference is that the teams with the most money to play with have changed and the old guard is pissed at the new guard. And the schools that have always been in the middle like to laugh at the old guard. Welcome to our world.

I think it already has started sorting itself out. Look at A&M and Miami. Two schools that by all accounts were dumping buckets of money at players and look at the headaches those two programs have.

The wide open NIL days are completely unsustainable. There’s no way boosters will continue cutting blank checks for guys like Denver Harris who show up to campus and frick around the entire time.

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Nope. I think the market will be like coaching salaries. It will skyrocket..just look at Texas A&M for example.

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Boosters will quit investing millions if they don't get results. Using your own example of A&M and Miami. That is not the return big $$ guys were expecting when buying players who don't give a shite about the school, only chasing the $$.

Compare to Miami in the 80's- that was south florida kids playing for The U with a massive chip on their shoulder. Sure they were getting paid but not 7 figures. They would not play with that edge if Texas or Michigan bought them. Football is a hard sport. You gotta have a little extra "want to" to excel at this level. Not sure 18 year old millionaires are gonna give you much of that.

My uneducated opinion is that whatever program can get the most average Joe fans to pay 5 or 10 or 20 dollars a month on auto draft will end up doing the best.

Right now I pay 5 or 10 dollars per month so much different shite that I can't keep up with it all. So the mentality is "what's another 5 or 10 dollars month for NIL?"

Alabama's internal NIL has been lying dividends for over a decade. You still have to coach well.

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These boosters spending millions for recruiting classes have to realize at some point that their ROI is awful. A&M is a perfect example.

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This is what I expect. Nobody is going to just throw money down a hole and get nothing for it. At least not twice... Boosters are used to throwing money around and getting some priviledge for it. Gonna be hard to give a 18 yr old a bunch of cash and get stiffed with no recourse.

Now somehow I believe it will morph to an "earned" system rather than paying people to just show up. Also it will eventually get out that many of these bag chasers will be miserable because they are not where they want or need to be.

I posit that majority of 18 yr old kids who join a college football program solely for the money are much less likely to have success than those who are actually doing it, at least in part, for an education and/or life/personal growth experience.

It's a character issue. You've probably worked with cut-throat fuks in your life who would gut you and leave you for dead if they could take your customer. Some people like that have success, but I'd assert that it's short-lived. You can't develop healthy, meaningful, long-term relationships in life or business if everything is transactional and you are entirely self-focused. Character, trust, bonding, longevity, loyalty and success (all required for a championship team) always involve an element of GIVING to others. Often for nothing. The narrative nowadays is that you are OWED.

That's amateur sport vs pro. But the pros have earned their keep and have a ridiculously tough slog to get there and stay. High school kids, many never having held a regular job before, typically don't have the maturity to handle what comes along with having money. Of course some do...but most don't. Even those who do are necessarily early in their 'career' and personal development.

This may sound hokey but the ideal college football program builds MEN. You would hope so anyway.

It's hard. It's high pressure. It's extraordinarily competitive. Most of these superstars have always had it easy on the football field. Few have had to overcome much on the gridiron despite each and every signing day meme describing 'all I had to overcome to become the man I am today.'

If nothing else, the 8&4feit pre-season national championship has proven that if you gather a large number of money-first, money-only kids along with their money-first families, it may create a toxic culture and the wheels may very well fall straight off.

NIL definitely has it's place and should absolutely be a part of the conversation, but ultimately the teams who can attract the most talented, highest character, value-driven recruits will be the winners in the end. It won't be a simple matter of top 247 class. It takes some chops to grind through 3-4 years of school and football - chops that generally have to be cultivated, not just purchased.

Future speculation is a risky investment.