So often, when the topic of name, image and likeness (NIL) is brought up, the conversation is often joined at the hip by its potential impact on recruiting and a shift toward professionalizing college athletics, but its positive effects are often overlooked.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart shared this morning at SEC Media Days that 95 players on the Bulldogs' roster currently have NIL deals, highlighting two cases that exemplify the intent of NIL’s implementation.
“For Dan Jackson to be a walk-on from Gainesville, Georgia, come in and get an opportunity to earn money for his education, that is good. For a young man that has a father that's on dialysis in south Georgia and he can't support his father unless he goes back and works or he gets NIL, that is good,” Smart said.
Adding that Jordan Davis was among the highest-paid defensive lineman in terms of NIL money and Brock Bowers is the leading tight end, Smart explained that money management is also a useful tool for players to learn.
The national championship-winning coach, however, recognizes the potential pitfalls of NIL and joined the calls for “guardrails” as it continues to evolve.
“I don't think what's going on in college football right now at some places is sustainable, meaning, Can you do that year in and year out and repeat that? Can you honor the commitment that some people are trying to make to kids to get them to go to their school? It's not good for college football, what's out there,” Smart said.
Throughout the week, we’ve heard Lane Kiffin, Nick Saban and others question how NIL will factor into the future of the sport with the Ole Miss coach calling out boosters’ role in bringing players to programs.
“If you have boosters out there deciding who they're going to pay to come play, and the coach isn't involved in it, how does that work? They could go pick who they want, pay him however much. Are the boosters going to tell you who to play, too? When they don't play, how is that going to work out,” he questioned.
Saban shared Smart's concern that NIL deals are being used as "inducements" on the recruiting trail, adding that, if it remains unchecked, NIL has the potential create a "competitive balance issue between the haves and have not's."
While state laws were enacted in the early days of NIL, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey continues to call on Congress to pass federal legislation, but nothing is imminent in D.C.
