Michigan use of NIL for Preferred Walk-Ons

Submitted by mlGOBLUE on May 1st, 2023 at 3:56 PM

I talked to a neighbor who's son turned down a DII scholarship to take a PWO at MSU. They were told that MSU has a standard NIL for PWOs, and that their son would receive $500 per month, plus $6000 at the end of the year if he maintained a 2.8 GPA. This essentially matched the DII scholarship. I'm curious, does anyone know how Michigan applies NIL for PWOs? 

bsand2053

May 1st, 2023 at 4:34 PM ^

Brian and Seth have been saying that Michigan is using NIL to cover guys who aren’t technically on scholarship.  I haven’t seen any direct evidence of that but Michigan is recruiting, retaining upperclassmen and taking transfers as if the 85 scholarship limit doesn’t exist so they must be right.  
 

And I’m sure it’s a damn sight more than $500 a month haha

 

Edit-IIRC JJ’s camp last summer paid out equally to every player who worked it, regardless of scholarship status so that’s one example of walk ons getting an opportunity 

Blinkin

May 1st, 2023 at 4:42 PM ^

Yeah, the degree of confidence with which Brian and Seth have essentially said "we don't need to talk about the 85 scholarship limit anymore," and Michigan's actions in roster management, certainly seem to agree with that.  I dunno if the PWOs are getting rich, but it sounds like they're getting their tuition, room, and board all covered.  

vablue

May 1st, 2023 at 5:47 PM ^

I don’t take it that way at all.  I take it that guys who would have had a scholarship get a NIL deal to cover it.  Those that would have been PWOs, I am not as sure about.  The 12k mentioned by the OP is far less than a full ride, especially if they are out of state.

Commie_High96

May 2nd, 2023 at 12:21 PM ^

Vablue, I’m not sure out-of-state is a thing for athletes. The school can and does grant waivers for out of state players so that they pay instate tuition. The school can grant this waiver on their own initiative, and it does not count as a scholarship.  
this waiver may not be available to out-of-state athletes in every sport (crew, sailing, whatever), but for football I’m pretty sure everyone’s tuition is based on instate status.

jonnyknox

May 2nd, 2023 at 9:07 AM ^

This has been a real benefit for the walk-ons across college football.  If used properly this can really help share the load the early in the season.  JH excels at this, I believe he used almost the entire roster for the UConn game last year.  When you can play as many as 14, 15 games this is a difference maker.  The transfer portal will limit teams from being able overload on talent.

blueheron

May 1st, 2023 at 4:40 PM ^

Interesting post, OP, thanks. I'd really like to see these numbers for all the schools.

Can you say which DII school? I realize $10K isn't what it used to be for college expenses, but if we're talking about a public school that's not bad for a school at that level.

mvp

May 2nd, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^

This is one of the reasons scholarship limits were originally put in place.  The "big" schools were packing their rosters with talent, going many levels deep at every position.  The parity that resulted at D1A and the increased participation at DII was the result and that may end up being eroded by NIL.

RAH

May 1st, 2023 at 11:56 PM ^

That does narrow it down. But westren Michigan has two successful D2 programs. Ferris State is 2 time defending national champs and Grand Valley has been national champions four times.

The state of Michigan also won two of the first 3 D2 championships: Central, Michigan, and Northern.

You  probably guessed I follow D2 in the state of Michigan a bit.

Grampy

May 1st, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^

I’m sure we’re working it pretty hard, given the number of 2 and 3 star PWOs which have floating by us on the blog this recruiting cycle.

bluebrains98

May 1st, 2023 at 9:27 PM ^

Certainly MSU has plenty of available scholarships after this week. Tell your neighbor to just ask. Far less complicated than all this NIL stuff. 

gwrock

May 2nd, 2023 at 12:15 PM ^

Does anyone have a feel for how NIL affects Title IX related stuff, if at all, nowadays?  It seems like scholarships are becoming a smaller and smaller piece of the compensation equation, and NIL opportunities are always going to be tilted toward men's sports -- for better or worse.