NIL, in college athletics, is “a person's legal right to control how their image is used, including commercially.” Previously, college athletes could not earn money or accept any deals or sponsorships. Reggie Bush even had to forfeit his Heisman because of the payment he received in 2005. However, in 2021 the NCAA changed the rules, allowing athletes to profit off of their image. Though college athletes deserve to earn a profit off of their image, the NIL landscape and transfer portal have changed the way college football functions.
The NCAA transfer portal is an online database that allows any college student-athlete to transfer from one team to another. In recent years, the portal rules have changed, which has caused many transformations in a multitude of teams. The rule used to be that if a college athlete changed teams they would have to sit out one entire season; however, that changed in 2021. The new rule established that football, basketball and hockey athletes can transfer teams without stipulations.
Former Ohio State University player and most recently Texas quarterback, Quinn Ewers, transferred after the 2021 season to play for the Longhorns. After completing only two snaps as a Buckeye, Ewers transferred to become the starting QB1 for Texas in the 2022-2024 seasons, and most recently has announced his entrance into the draft.
More recently, former starting quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs, Carson Beck, has declared his transfer to the Miami Hurricanes team, which secured him $10 million in the deal. Another transfer is Kurtis Rourke, who understandably went from Group Five MAC school Ohio University to Power Four school Indiana. Rourke transferring allowed him to gain recognition as a potential draft pick, and lead him to his first-ever playoff run.
Ohio State University athletic director projected that the team spent $20 million in NIL deals. Players Will Howard, Jack Sawyer and Jeremiah Smith all signed a deal with Ricart Automotive Group; the deal included that the three players got new cars. Although Ohio State has spent much money on NIL deals for players, some players at other schools are making much more. Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders has an NIL value of $6.2 million. Sanders is currently making more money in college football than NFL quarterback Brock Purdy. This season, Texas had $9.5 million in NIL between two players, with starting quarterback Quinn Ewers having an NIL valuation of $4.5 million and backup Arch Manning's valuation being $5 million.
Although NIL and transfer portals have a lot of benefits, such as athletes profiting off of their images and athletes being able to get more playing time, they arguably have harmed the overall format of NCAA football. One of the reasons college football is so entertaining is because of how unpredictable it is. College football rosters change every year because of people graduating or entering the schools. However, because of NIL, it can be argued that schools that have the most to offer will continue to dominate college football, making it more predictable, similar to the NFL.
As for the transfer portal, athletes are now constantly changing schools. A possible consequence of athletes transferring schools is that they fall behind in their academics. “Quite frankly, they don't care," one Power Four AD said non-specifically. “They care, but (athlete) mobility and money is more important than graduation right now.”
Although there is no going back to the former culture, this shift has shifted for the worse. This new standard of college football will create young recruits being essentially bribed into teams for millions of dollars and will make good Power Four schools a minor league for the NFL.
Chase Borland is a sophomore studying journalism and Cassie Dye is a junior studying communications at Ohio University. The views and opinions of these columnists do not necessarily reflect those of The Post. If you have any thoughts, questions or concerns then you can contact them at cb297222@ohio.edu and cb086021@ohio.edu.
