Public school kids don’t so no clue if there are any standards anywhere anymore
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Forgive my possible naivete, but Kyle and everyone else now talks about NIL payments as if they are salaries. I thought the court decisions held that the athletes have the right to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness. It looks like they are simply being paid for joining the team. If that’s happening I think it would be helpful for Congress to regulate NIL so that it actually implements the court decisions. Am I missing something? (That has happened before.)
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I think they will be busy with other things…
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I pretty much consider NIL $$$$$ to be salary (no matter what terminology they want to use.)
Two of the larger problems for me are
- No salary cap
- Everyone is essentially an unrestricted free agent every off season
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Starting in Fall 2025 there will be 2 compensation avenues available to players.
First, Players will continue to be able to collect NIL compensation from non-school sources such like collectives and private businesses. While coaches and athletic department employees can help players secure NIL deals, the actual deals are between the player and the collective/private business.
Second, New beginning the Fall of 2025 schools can directly pay a total of up to $22 million to players. How schools allocate those monies is up to the school. I guess, they could pay every player in every sport the same amount if they choose or use some other formula.
In his presser, KW stated that he believes Oregon football has had an NIL chest of $30 million per year and that there are 15 or so other schools that have similar NIL resources. He further indicated that if you want to compete at the highest levels, it will require that type of money.
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I read somewhere (wish I could find the link) that Phil Knight basically said he will give “unlimited funds” to Oregon sports to use for NIL. Unbelievable. Why donate your tens and hundreds of millions of dollars to hospitals, homeless shelters, primary education, and humanitarian causes when you can buy a championship-level college football team?
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It’s fair to say in this world of monetized everything that building a future for a better world has definitely taken a backseat to entertaining the masses with gladiator games. I get the marketing angles in play here, but damn.
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Gross.
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I wonder what schemes will be devised to help athletes avoid paying taxes on what they receive? Maybe just some good old fashion under the table NIL payments.
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Just realized that Utah will have played four teams that were coming off bye weeks this year.
- Arizona
- TCU
- BYU
- Iowa State
That number seems high.
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Point taken, but Iowa State played Cincinnati last week
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Ah, nvm then.
Someone posted that Iowa State was on a bye last week, and I didn’t bother to check.
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lol, we’ll have athletes longing for the good old days of paper bags stuffed with cash.
“My dad and uncle didn’t have to put up with any of this! Bring back historic college football!”
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Kamrani has a deep dive into the program on the Athletic this morning.
The gist, the Utes have botched their QB recruiting and had no plans once Rising got injured. It runs down all the misses in recruiting at QB.
I don’t want to violate a copyright here today, but a couple of paragraphs of free use.
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After returning to Utah in 2019, Ludwig helped former Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley develop into an all-conference quarterback that season and orchestrated consecutive Pac-12 title-winning seasons with a healthy Rising in 2021 and ’22. But the mundanity of the 2024 offense was impossible to ignore. Utah may have struck gold by landing Rising, a onetime Texas transfer, but the quarterback room has been filled with a series of misses in recruiting, evaluation and development since.
High-profile transfers Jake Bentley (South Carolina) and Charlie Brewer (Baylor) did not pan out. And developmentally, Utah has been unable to bring along high school recruits and see them blossom into full-fledged starters. In the absence of Rising in 2023, the Utes relied on former walk-on Bryson Barnes, whose legendary Rose Bowl moment in 2022 against Ohio State when Rising suffered a concussion will always be a program highlight. But Barnes is now a backup at Utah State.
Former four-star quarterback Nate Johnson showed flashes of his elite speed in 2022 and ’23 but was never able to beat out Barnes. He entered the transfer portal before last season ended and is now the backup at Vanderbilt. Other former quarterback recruits under Ludwig moved on without much hullabaloo from the fan base. The 2020 class featured Cooper Justice, an underrecruited 6-foot-6 lefty quarterback, who eventually transferred to Lindenwood University, a small private college in Missouri. He’s now pursuing a professional baseball career.
A few years later, Utah signed a three-star quarterback from Mississippi, Mack Howard. After a year in Salt Lake, Howard transferred to Samford, an FCS program, and is yet to make an appearance there. When reached by The Athletic earlier this month, Ludwig declined comment on his exit from Utah.
In this newfangled world of college football, coaches can alleviate the pressure of recruiting missteps at the high school level by making the right signing in the transfer portal, which opens next to all undergraduates on Dec. 9. Utah still finds itself in a precarious situation. As Rising recovers from yet another season-ending surgery, he has to figure out his own path forward. He’ll be 26 next year and has suffered three major season-ending injuries, but he’ll be eligible for another medical redshirt that would allow him to return to the field. Whittingham has said he plans on keeping in close contact with Rising in the coming weeks to see what he wants to do.
====================
Whoever is calling the shots in 2025 — both as head coach and on offense — has a QB conundrum on their hands. But, as Whittingham pointed out, a top-flight quarterback in the transfer portal can not only change the fortunes of a suddenly struggling program. It must be budgeted for, too. Rising was reportedly making over $1 million in name, image and likeness money.
“We can’t be deterred by a hefty price tag,” Whittingham said. “It’s the most important position by far, hands down, no questions asked. I’ve said that many times. You can’t compromise and try and get a bargain and try to get by with something you don’t think is elite.”
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Well, the adventure resumes today…do we get off the schneide, win one, and have a chance to get bowl eligible next week?
The offense will have to show up for a chance. No costly penalties or turnovers either.
Can someone kill the snake that keeps biting us please?
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I’d like to see us win but I am at the point where I don’t want to get near a bowl unless we win that too.
Losing straight since 2017 is just embarrassing.
I’ll take a pass if it means we can be more competitive next year.
And having a loss there doesn’t compensate for the extra weeks imho.
Here’s the thread for the game. More importantly, I have tickets to today’s game. They’re excellent, 50 yard line on the west side, halfway up. Two tickets, 20 bucks each. You won’t be sorry. Send me a board mail if you’re interested.
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I would like us to do better tonight.
That is all.
One of my best friends from high school and college is in town today. I haven’t seen him for almost a decade, so we’re gonna go out for some beers this afternoon. Yay for day drinking!
I gave our tickets for tonight to a lady who doesn’t get to go to games very often and wanted to take her kids. She told me the kids said they promised to yell really loud. I thought that was cute.
Will probably just follow the ESPN tracker tonight, as I need to catch up on a few of the newer Final Fantasy XIV raids and wrap up the final chapter of the new Dragon Age game (which is excellent, btw)
(As you can tell, my investment in this Utah season is…lacking. 
)
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