You could be sitting next to a millionaire in class at this moment and not even know it. Name, Image, and Likeness, better known as NIL, allows college athletes to earn money through their personal brand. While most athletes will not see millions or even thousands of dollars, the possibility is now there. Due to the NCAA ruling that was put in place in 2021, college athletes can receive payments and endorsements while attending college, but the money does not come directly from the university. Around the same time, the NCAA created the transfer portal, which allowed students to transfer freely between colleges without penalty.
The transfer portal is a system in which student-athletes can put their names into a private NCAA database that only coaches and athletic admins can view. Student-athletes looking to transfer must submit a request to their school’s administration, from there the school has 48 hours to enter their name on the database. Coaches from across the nation can log in to the portal and find players who will fit their program’s needs. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, “the one-year penalty for transferring that was in place for players in five major sports has been modified so it doesn’t apply for their first move from school to school or a graduate transfer.” Prior to 2021, teams had to get signatures from the head coach and athletic director to transfer to a different school, in most conferences, the athlete also had to sit out for one year. Not all student-athletes who enter the transfer portal will find a new home, in fact, some athletes lose their current role because their current coach finds new talent to replace them upon entering the transfer portal.
NIL has allowed schools to rely heavily on their alumni boosters to help recruit players to the university. In the past, student-athletes made their college choice based on the coaching staff of the program, the recruiting class, and their history for winning. Today, players are making their selection with an added variable—money. The top sports programs will still attract talented athletes, but now those universities on the cusp of winning a national championship can level the playing field. A student-athlete could choose to attend a school solely to get more money to play there, regardless of the coaching staff and recruiting class.
TJC Assistant Basketball Coach, Mitch Marquis is knowledgeable when it comes to the transfer portal and NIL.
“It has made this very interesting, and I think, way more in basketball than any other sport because it’s just so dynamic. Obviously, football is its own monster. But basketball now, almost all four-year schools that are division ones are looking at transfer portal first, and then not even high school, not even prep, it goes to junior college,” Marquis said. This puts TJC as a prime landing spot for talented unranked high school seniors.
College coaches at the D1 level are expected to win games. Their job depends on it. If they can recruit an experienced player from another college, it is more advantageous than getting an 18-year-old who has not proven himself at the college level. Most high school senior athletes who commit to play a D1 sport will expect to start right away. However, it is not always the case “If you’re not a top 100 high school kid, chances are… it’s going to be a tough path,” Marquis said.
The transfer portal allows the D1 player to transfer to another D1 or down a level to have a better opportunity to play. While rare, the most common story is about the D3 player who has a great year and becomes a standout D1 player by finding a new school via the transfer portal. The most common story is about the player who gets to continue their college education at any level, finish their degree, and play the sport they love. Marquis finds faith in the system because he can help a player complete his degree, whereas before he may have given up.
NIL deals can put coaches in a tough situation. If a program, backed by its boosters raises $500,000 for “Player A,” and “Player B” receives $10,000, there is pressure on the head coach to play “Player A” over “Player B.” While some may see this as unfair, Marquis believes it “keeps the coaches accountable.”
TJC Football Coach, Tanner Jacobson, begins to recruit players after the end of the Apache football season. Jacobson and his staff direct most of their attention to high school seniors. The transfer portal, coupled with the extra year of COVID eligibility has helped the older college athletes and hindered the younger. Coaches in the past would recruit freshmen and sophomores in high school, but now they have changed the way they land prospects.
“Who’s going to be my starting offense in 2027? No one is thinking that way anymore. Whereas before, there was some long-term vision that needed to happen, now it’s so myopic and so short sighted,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson has found some success in the transfer portal. Some players they recruited in the past, who went straight into D1 their first year, will call him with the realization that they were not ready for the D1 level. In this situation, the student-athlete’s talents are usually superior to junior college athletics, but because of the transfer portal, they lose playing time to more advanced college players who transferred in.
Nick Saban, legendary Alabama football coach, shocked the world of football recently by retiring without notice. Alabama has dominated college football under his tenure and many sports critics believe his retirement is due to the NIL deals that started to draw away his top recruiting class that he would usually bring in every year. Football coaches across the country are learning how to adjust to an unfamiliar environment.
“I think the biggest thing, just in college football in general, is there were so many changes so fast, unregulated, that kind of created a big mess,” Jacobson said.
According to Sports Business Journal, NIL is not a new topic but has been debated as early as 2004. A football player from the University of Colorado, Jeremy Bloom, was also an Olympic skier. Bloom earned endorsements outside of college by competing in professional ski events but had to forego those deals to compete on the football team. Athletes such as Bloom, Reggie Bush, and Johnny Manziel looked forward to a time such as this. Although they were never able to fully experience the monetization of their brand, they helped open the door for today’s athletes.
Today’s top NIL earners according to Business Insider have valuations well over one-million dollars. Bronny James, USC basketball player and son of Lebron James has a valuation of 4.9 million dollars. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado University quarterback and son of Deion Sanders has a valuation of 4.7 million dollars. And third on the list is Livvy Dunne, LSU gymnast who has a valuation of 3.6 million dollars. These athletes also have millions of followers on their social media accounts, and because of this following it has turned the everyday-college athletes into superstars. Dunne has had to switch to online classes only at LSU because of the droves of students who followed her in person to class.
For incoming college athletes who may be worried about the atmosphere at TJC, Coach Marquis sums it up, “The biggest thing about here is it is truly a family, departments work with other departments…the biggest credit that I have [why] I am still here, is because of how this place is, we are a family.”
