Outside of Michigan, NIL went too high, too fast

The University of Michigan, quite famously (and despite what rival fans are screeching about at any given moment) does about everything it can to stay within the rules. So when name, image and likeness licensing became the law of the land in college athletics, the maize and blue strived to do things the right way.

And they have been getting left in the dust as a result.

Despite pay-for-play still being illegal according to NCAA rules, under the guise of NIL, many teams have just flat-out bought recruits and transfers. Now price tags are going to come with any recruitment, at the very least signifying what a player will walk away with once their university career is over.

Florida is a cautionary tale. One of the craziest NIL-influenced recruitments was that of four-star quarterback Jaden Rashada, who originally committed to Miami before flipping to the Gators. Not only was he apparently promised an exorbitant amount, he signed a contract ensuring he’d receive it.

After he didn’t get what he was expecting, Rashada flipped to Arizona State and is suing Florida to get what was promised. (Rashada is transferring to Georgia , as well.)

Figures were thrown around at the time, but no one was under the impression Rashada was promised nearly $14 million. That’s more money than a large portion of NFL players receive unless they’re a breakout star.

No matter what you think of a kid’s talent, shame on Florida for promising that kind of cash incentive. The Gators desperation essentially drove up market value and helped normalize this sort of cash-for-commitment frenzy that has overtaken recruiting.

I am all for players getting paid, but what happened here is about 10 bridges too far. When you’re promising NFL money to a player who has never played a college down, that’s too much. The only case where a college player should receive money like that is if the market has dictated such based on their on-field popularity. In Ann Arbor, it would not be surprising to hear of players like J.J. McCarthy or Blake Corum making that type of money, because companies could be lining up in a hurry to get the players behind their product.

That is the spirit of what NIL was supposed to be and closer to what it should be. But promising to dole out professional-level sums to high school students? Having them sign contracts that aren’t the national letter of intent? No wonder the sport is becoming unrecognizable.

I don’t blame Rashada one bit for trying to get what he was promised. Even if he had his hand out from the beginning, it’s not on him that Florida promised what it did. This is on the schools who have instigated, perpetrated and glorified this new model of college athletics. You’re desperation and greed will ruin the sport unless somehow, some way we can put some of the toothpaste back into the tube.