The Recruiting Guy

Everyone thinking ahead on NIL repercussions

The long-awaited name, image and likeness is here for college athletics and the ramifications are expected to be felt during the recruiting process in football and basketball.

Nothing But Net national recruiting analyst Van Coleman thinks schools with strong and loyal fan bases will do fine.

“Because [the players are] not going to make their money on the national level in most cases, they’re going to make money based off of how much the fan base is willing to support them,” Coleman said.

Coleman, who’s entering his 45th year scouting national talent, serves on the McDonald’s All-American and Naismith Player of the Year selection committees.

“Arkansas has a rabid fan base. Iowa has a rabid fan base,” Coleman said. “It could actually help them if they promote it that way. Those fan bases will spend their money that way.”

Former Razorback guard Moses Moody is one Coleman believes would’ve made a good income if he had not opted to go to the NBA.

“If he would’ve come back, he would’ve made six figures,” Coleman said. “Why? Because he’s a star.”

Professional athletes have been victims of unscrupulous agents and financial advisers in the past. Coleman sees the same happening to high school and college athletes.

“How long until we see that happening when we’re talking about kids barely 18 or younger signing these agreements?” Coleman said.

After a few years of the new normal, prospects are likely to look at a school’s track record of producing moneymaking athletes before making a college choice.

“It won’t take long before [schools] have the analytics to prove they’re a better school to go to based on NIL,” Coleman said. “Not based on where the kids end up in the pros, not based on where the kid ends up in the future as far as education, but NIL becomes as important.”

Coleman expects Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and other apparel companies to get involved with college athletes.

“They’ll build brands for kids and they’ll share the wealth with them,” Coleman said. “Why? Because the kids aren’t going to be selling the products themselves, but they’re going to have to license the image and be paid based off sales. When a school licenses an image, they get anywhere from 6 to 18% per sale for that school.”

Schools with endorsement agreements with apparel companies and others might forbid athletes from doing the same.

According to Flagship website, the University of Arkansas’ all-encompassing solution to enable Arkansas athletes to fully capitalize on name, image and likeness, an athlete must be given a special exception to enter an agreement with a company that conflicts with Arkansas.

“I think schools are going to see lots of lawsuits … that means Nike can’t lock a player down in college but competitors could?” Coleman said. “What if a player signs with Nike in high school? Does that mean the Hogs can’t recruit him? Lots of potential problems.”

CBS Sports Network national football recruiting analyst Tom Lemming sees jealously in the locker room potentially becoming an issue.

“I think it could create some problems on the team, if it’s not handled right,” he said.

Schools with larger fan bases and alumni could have the upper hand in recruiting, Lemming said.

“They’re going to thrive as always,” he said. “They’re already thriving but even more so because they can probably get them more cash or more deals.”

Parents of players often call college coaches about their son’s playing time. Lemming now expects parents to be calling about the lack of endorsements because of overzealous sale pitches during the recruiting process.

“They’re already doing it about playing time and other things because recruiters are great salesmen, and as everyone knows every great salesman has a little line of BS to them,” Lemming said. “Now with money thrown into the mix, it makes it much more voracious.”

The players without endorsements might be a concern going forward.

“It’s always the bottom half you worry about, the guys you need in practice, you need as depth and you need to fill out the team with them,” Lemming said. “How happy are they going to be? When they see their teammates getting a lot of extra stuff and parents see that, I think it will add to the transfer portal.”