There seems to be no end to the craziness known as NIL (Name, Image and Likeness).
A couple of weeks ago the University of Texas announced a local charity was going to pay every Longhorn offensive lineman, up to 16, $50,000 per year to block.
That’s almost $20,000 more than the per capita income in the Lone Star State.
The twist though was this past week starting UT quarterback Casey Thompson, who those guys would be blocking for, announced he was transferring to Nebraska.
That smacks of some sort of NIL deal because the majority of people don’t leave Austin for Lincoln unless they were born in Nebraska.
Thompson grew up in the southern part of Oklahoma.
Razorback fans are wondering if NIL deals are why the Arkansas Razorbacks lead the SEC in transfers with 17. Well, the answer is no.
Those 17 don’t include the three who have thrown their names into the next NFL draft.
Of the five who have decided on a new school only Vito Calvanuso has landed at a Power 5 school.
Only one is from Arkansas and just one was a true freshman.
What it appears to me is the majority are interested in PT, playing time.
The bottom line of the NIL and transfer portal is they have created a huge mess in college athletics. The NIL is called endorsements in the NFL and the transfer portal is call free agency.
College athletics has moved two steps closer to the professional ranks.