SI article on Michigan NIL
September 13th, 2023 at 10:23 AM ^
Great summary, thanks for sharing.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:30 AM ^
I thought the OP's synopsis was a bit snarky. I am glad he deleted it.
/s
September 13th, 2023 at 11:37 AM ^
Way too many acronyms and initials, who does he think he is, GoJ???
September 13th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
transformational, not transactional
-JH
September 13th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
great article i would not have found it thanks for posting
September 13th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
Corum owns a real estate portfolio? Wow.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
This can’t be true. All I’ve heard is that our NIL is completely broken, we aren’t competitive and we’ll be lucky if we aren’t a D-III school soon.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:44 AM ^
Folks act like NIL *needs* to be “basically a blank check to any recruits we want.”
September 13th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
I can see why. I mean, it's worked out wonderfully for Texas A&M.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:58 AM ^
And don't forget that NIL is *always* the culprit when we miss out on a recruit lol
September 13th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
It’s the new “must be those SEC bagmen”
September 13th, 2023 at 10:31 PM ^
Yes, the Michigan NIL system is a great idea and makes the most sense because it creates a close team with high morale. But I don't think we can totally discount the idea that it may not be the most appealing to many/most young, highly ranked/star recruits.
Remember that Bag U is telling them they will immediately get a huge sum of money when they start school and Michigan is telling them that if they work hard, are good team mates, and perform well they eventually will make a lot of money. High school boys are not known for being irresistibly drawn to delayed gratification.
Michigan's approach is great, classy and creates a team I want to root for. But people seem to be implying that when Michigan doesn't get a highly ranked recruit it is just a recruiting fail and attributing it to big NIL offers is an excuse. Probably it is not usually an excuse. It is likely usually true.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:31 PM ^
To be fair, every fan base blames bag men or NIL for missing on a recruit.
September 13th, 2023 at 3:24 PM ^
Speaking of D-III, my son plays football at that level. And I can confirm that the NIL landscape hasn't stuffed many pocketbooks on his team.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
I've been interested to see how other, non-headliners do in this system. Per a quote from Trevor Keegan in the story, he expects to make between $225k and $500k this year. Amazing.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:38 AM ^
Hunter, are you reading this?
September 13th, 2023 at 2:20 PM ^
I mean that was probably part of the point. Michigan is a football machine with a basketball arm on the side. Kansas is a basketball machine with a football arm on the side (that kicks Illinois’s ass).
September 13th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
Holy shiznit. I wonder how much JJ is pulling down then.
September 13th, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^
Well, if my name was Stephen M. Ross or someone similar I would approach JJ now with a Lloyds of London Insurance policy on every major limb/ligament/ect. and a 💼 with $5 mill to return for his senior year but I'm a delusional fan.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^
I thought that was an informative article, though it was certainly more optimistic of Michigan's NIL than I believe most of us are. There is the claim that Michigan's cautious approach to NIL has led to their cohesion and success, in contrast to a Texas A&M who bought a bunch of highly rated players up front. That's certainly evidence, but I would be hesitant to say there's any causal relationship there.
The talk about players elsewhere being jerked around with their NIL money and not getting what they were promised must have completely missed my radar because, though I had heard some horror stories, I was mostly unaware of that going on (not that I'm surprised).
September 13th, 2023 at 10:48 AM ^
I think Michigan has done a good job keeping alumni and boosters out of the recruit contact equation. Most of the NIL offers coming up light stories seem to involve big talking boosters that make outrageous offers and then cant live up to them.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
I recently saw an article about an NFL player who is involved in a lawsuit against a company he signed a NIL deal with while in college. He apparently signed away a percentage of his NFL income to the company unknowingly. Some shady stuff going on around some of those NIL deals.
EDIT: article is here: https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bears-dt-gervon-dexter-sues-big-league-advance-fund-over-nil-deal
September 13th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
The article doesn't say he unknowingly signed away his future earnings. It says that the deal, which was this company paying him ~400K today in exchange for 15% of his future NFL earnings, was not an NIL agreement. Thats just a speculative/payday loan arrangement that the lender is trying to profit off of. They did not receive any NIL services from the player, and sounds like it may have broken some Florida payday loan laws.
Still, your point remains that it underscores the shady landscape of the NIL world. 18 year olds are signing 6 and 7 figure contracts. In the business world, a company is not signing a contract that large without it going through legal/financial review from multiple people experienced with contract language and pitfalls. I've always said with NIL that if Michigan is not into pay for play, they should be pitching their massive legal and business network who can help athletes navigate the legal aspects of these deals.
September 13th, 2023 at 12:34 PM ^
Yeah, that article doesn't mention the unknowingly part. The original article I saw on Twitter mentioned he wasn't aware of that clause, but that doesn't appear to be one of the arguments his attorney is making.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^
You could be right. Possible the contract was not clear and he did not know, but from a legal perspective since his signature was on it, now the lawyers arguing other ways to get out of the contract.
This kid must have seen 400K cash and just signed whatever. Who is their right mind would give away 15% of pre-tax earnings for life? After taxes, agents and other costs thats at least 30% of his take home pay. After just his rookie contract he's supposed to pay ~1M back, so over 100% interest. He could have ran up a bunch of credit cards at 25% interest and been better off, and not be on the hook still for 15% of next deal.
September 13th, 2023 at 1:21 PM ^
I can pretty much guarantee you there there is a significant causal relationship here. Pre-NIL there were stunningly bad, unfounded feelings about playing time from players whose abilities turned out to be dwarfed by their teammates. I have not coached since NIL has entered the picture...I can only imagine the hell this engenders
September 13th, 2023 at 3:31 PM ^
For every Texas A&M, there is a Georgia. We are doing well now but the real test is next year. Michigan hasn't landed a 5 star since the NIL era.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
For comparison
"The minimum salary for an NFL player in 2023 is currently $750,000. That amount is specific to NFL rookies in their first season. As they progress, the minimum increases to $870,000 and $940,000 in Year 3."
If our starting left guard is making half of the NFL minimum, that's pretty good.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
If the starting guard is making that much, I wonder how many players will have to take a paycut when going to the NFL.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
It reminds me of what I've read of the old days, that college football was supreme and salaries in pro football made it seem more semi-pro.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
I have been a big supporter of the NIL methods other schools are working, but Michigan's is a great one as well. The most productive players make hundreds of thousands of dollars, while the rest still make money, just not as much. The more production you have, the more you make, and that is how it is in the work-place as well. I still believe Michigan should be a little more relaxed on allowing boosters and third party entities to pay recruits, but this way of Michigan's NIL method is good, and it may be the way all college football works it after the NCAA settles some issues with the current methods.
September 13th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
Having our NIL be a meritocracy is probably better for the locker room atmosphere than straight-up guaranteeing certain amounts to recruits. I can easily see how the latter could lead to resentment by teammates who didn't get those guarantees (and yet are playing as much or more than them). Here, the guys who make the most NIL are the ones earning it on the field.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:41 AM ^
Would Corum and Keegan have picked Michigan if they were high schoolers today?
Corum picked Michigan over OSU, LSU, and USC.
Keegan picked Michigan over UGA and PSU.
Regardless of how empty the promises are, they are still working on the vast, vast majority of recruits.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:46 AM ^
Bryce Underwood should be the bellwether to let us know if our NIL system is sustainable
September 13th, 2023 at 11:47 AM ^
What good are the empty promises if seven kids leave your school before sophomore year like the 2022 Texas AM class? On the other hand, they still signed 22 kids in the top 200 and 16 of them remain... I do wish there was some regulation on the whole thing just so that the empty promises wouldn't be possible, but that's like wishing to end up with Margot Robbie.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:46 AM ^
Sounds like Michigan's NIL program is designed to be less like a traditional rocket and more like an ion drive. Hope the system remains in place long enough for the difference to get very large for our players.
September 14th, 2023 at 6:20 PM ^
+1 for good aerospace reference. :)
September 13th, 2023 at 10:53 AM ^
Thanks for posting. I put my big click pants on and had no issue clicking on the link to read the article. But, I sometimes do yell at my microwave to heat faster so I do admit I am a flawed Dick.
Btw, isn't the article's author PNG on here for his digs at Michigan about a decade ago?
https://mgoblog.com/content/someone-find-michael-rosenberg-darth-vader-hat
September 13th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^
That link is only the tip of the Rosenberg
September 13th, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
Just another 30 to 50 positive articles by this doofus and maybe I will forgive him for his part in causing the stretch-gate controversy…..
September 13th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
Curious how NIL plays out long term. Winning + NIL is definitely a chicken vs egg argument. The A&M/Miami strategy of buying freshmen and portal players versus the Michigan transformational strategy is the best example of chicken/egg argument. On one hand, you don't want to disrupt the locker room. Where on the other hand, you clearly need a baseline of talent to win and kids/families can clearly be bought (See Elias Rudolph + all of A&M's 2022 class). Michigan is currently sitting with an 850 composite score on 247 with 2016 Clemson being the champion with the lowest ranked composite at 846. All other champions in the CFP era have had a 900+ composite of talent.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
Does this reflect the development activities? The reason I raise this question is - I thought that 247 did an "update" about a year ago - which reflected the current roster's status - specifically, how individual classes had progressed - based on performance in college, up to that date - or through the prior season.
So, a player like Sainristil - who, if memory serves me correctly, committed as a three star but is playing like a mid four star. That's development.
I think 247 does a decent job - and, it's pretty clear that a few schools - like Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia have recruited at a high to very high level - for a prolonged period of time.
Regardless, it's great that a well thought out NIL program will be something to differentiate Michigan.
Just wondering - Did JC Stroud get to keep that AMG G53 - or was it a one year lease / loaner for his services.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:17 AM ^
Good article. Thanks for sharing. Finally, I see how Michigan's method can work. Leaders and the best. Not one way is the best way, but I can see how Michigan's approach will help not just the star players. Kudos to stars who embraced this idea and help their teammates.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:24 AM ^
Oh yay, a Michael Rosenberg article
September 13th, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
Very interesting, including surprising $ amounts in the hundreds of thousands.
Thanks for posting.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
Excellent thread, story, and article. Especially grateful for UM stories like this on MGOBLOG, keeping spotlight and focus on our great team.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
This isn't meant to slag people on this site (and the fact this article was written by Michael Rosenberg, the guy behind the Stretchgate fiasco, is deeply ironic) but I noticed we kept hearing from certain people how far behind NIL UM was and yet when asked for actual examples where they were demonstrably worse than the majority of college programs and how it was hurting them, little evidence was shown.
UM is not going to just write a check to some random freshman and hope he doesn't suck; there are teams that absolutely do that and they're called Texas A&M and they haven't won more than 9 games in a decade and only 10+ games once since 2000. I've long contended that UM is way too good at making money and being good to not take advantage of their NIL system but they weren't going to rush into some slap-dash design that isn't sustainable or efficient, and right now it sure looks like they've figured it out to a degree that works for them.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^
I think its going to come out in the wash. The top 10, 15, 20 players in the country will always command paydays as they always have. Michigan will mostly not get those guys but maybe will once in a while (see: Rashan Gary) because they arent the highest bidder.
For everyone else, NIL is going to be A factor and not THE factor. For those other factors - education, campus life, competitive football program, playing time, etc.. Michigan will always be in the upper echelon of football, as they were before NIL.
You just need to "do" NIL well enough that your top players are earning a good living so recruits can see the promise of doing the same, and nothing else will have changed.
And we'll see for the top top tier if they can sustain bidding wars every year for these players - that's a lot of cash to pony up year in and year out.
And if the players at some point unionize and take Ad share from TV...well now you've set a pretty good baseline for all the players, and it matters event less for the vast majority of the average athlete on a D1 roster
September 13th, 2023 at 2:50 PM ^
Yeah, I get a sense that UM does a good job retaining guys once they're on campus and rewarding high achievers, which is just as sustainable as dropping huge bags for top-100 guys like some schools do. I agree that the top 10/15 guys are all going to get paid and that makes sense, but what schools were doing was purportedly paying guys well outside that top level like they were stars and that inevitably messed stuff up. For example, the Florida debacle with Jaden Rashada wasn't just that they didn't pay him but that they were seriously talking about paying the the #6 QB in that class $250k/mo for basically nothing more than a couple of Instagram posts and a meet-and-greet. He's started at ASU and hasn't been terrible but he definitely doesn't look like a bona-fide star and him possibly getting close to $14M over 4 years just showed how illogical the market was.
So yeah, UM has made mistakes but I think they're well aware that if you're going to pay guys huge amounts of money it should go to players like Corum, Edwards, Johnson, McCarthy, etc. who have developed on your squad and actually performed and not just to some 18-year-old you hope will be that good.
September 13th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
The article was informative and fair, but there is also the underlying assumption that it's NIL that has driven the winning culture. I'm here to disagree with that, wholeheartedly. The culture that has driven these wins is started and driven by James Joseph Harbaugh himself. He is the one that made changes to the how the program was being run in 2020. He changed the coaching staff. He drives the offensive philosophy. He chose the defensive philosophy. His attitude determines they players attitudes. His selection of personalities in recruits drives attitudes. This is 100% Harbaugh's program, staffed with coaches that share his vision of what football is and should be, played by men who have bought in fully.
The B1G Championships and CFP games are not because of NIL, as Rosenberg would have us believe. And that is the low-key, passive aggressive thrust of this article - is that NIL did it, not Harbaugh and the players.
Please continue to fuck off, Rosenberg...