Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
In the world of politics it has been discovered that aggregating small-dollar donations from highly engaged normal folks can actually bring in similar if not larger amounts than the billionaire heavyweights with SuperPAC's and things of that nature.
The same will be true of NIL as it matures. Join the Guardians.
The mindset is just different down here in SEC country. Vandy excluded, the fans are just bonkers. You can kind of understand it at Georgia, Alabama and LSU (to an extent) given their history of consistent success. But the fans at the other schools are delusional in how they view their teams. Auburn is the most glaring example where they fire a great coach like Malzahn because he had the gall to have a few 4 loss seasons, but I can tell you first hand the fans at South Carolina are just about as crazy, and it's no different at A&M, Tennessee, Arkansas, Ole Miss, etc. Pre-NIL the cheating was rampant - you had to in order to compete and you were much more likely to get fired for losing than you were for getting caught cheating.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
It's cool that he was repping a McCantos jersey (another South Florida kid).
Have lived in the south for going on 24 years now. I wouldn't call fans in the south dilutional. I would say intensely loyal. It starts when they are born. They see and adopt the team their parents fanatically support (typically generationally) and do so for the rest of their lives. There are divided households through marriage so sometimes the kids have a choice. The difference down here is support is not a hobby or an interest. It's too the bone loyalty. No one complains if you stand and/or are loud at games. It's expected. My daughter graduated from UGA and I attended several games while she attended. I tell you, the environment is fun and infectious. And the coeds...
Is it just me or did that last sentence get pretty creepy considering the sentence two prior?
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Is it just me or did that last sentence get pretty creepy considering the sentence two prior?
It's not just you.
Mr. McCarthy?????????
I just can't believe how much the college landscape has changed. It was just 3 or 4 years ago the topic became louder as to the thought college athletes should be compensated in some way. Compensated above their free education, food and housing. Just 3 or 4 years ago, if a coach gave a player $20 it would lead to sanctions. And now? It's the freaking wild west! Are there even rules for NIL, because if so, no one is following them??
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Right, players weren't getting paid before NIL.
It is no longer recruiting. It is bidding.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
This is definitely my view. I was explaining NIL to my wife the other day. I'm sorry, but the current NIL sucks. Under this system the entire collegiate athletics (at least FB and BB) is no more. To me it is very disappointing. The SEC probably has way more alumni than the Big10 whose entire life revolves around football. Therefore, more money. We all know it is a business that benefits the NFL. Essentially a free minor league. I would not be surprised if NFL teams are somehow contributing to certain schools and conferences in order to have better coached players entering the draft. More players playing more tough competition makes them better prepared for the NFL. It has to be way cheaper than funding a minor league development system. I don't know who will have an incentive to get it under control and it may be too late. If, hypothetically, my FB or BB team were to have an entire roster of transfers and win a NC. I'm not sure I would be excited?
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it was already crazy. it was already escalated. It was shoe companies directing people to certain places. Bag men with influence. Agents, boosters - IT WAS ALWAYS THE WILD WEST. It was just hidden. Now it is more obvious.
To those fans who had a little ostrich in them and had their heads partially in the sand, this must be distressing (and I'm sorry). But for those of us who paid attention, we always knew. We lost to UNC because their players were NBA minor leaguers who didn't attend class. Michigan players are somehow all Sports Management majors. The Fab 5 was paid. Self is a master at it (and if he stayed at Illinois, he would have done it here and we would have cheered). Every school has done things, with the SEC just being better at it than the Big Ten.
At least now the players aren't completely screwed and have freedom, and they can transfer if they don't like things. I have freedom to work for any company I want, and I can quit 4 months into a job.
And if Terrance Shannon and Marcus Meyer bring us a final four, I will be just as excited as I was as a freshman in 88-89. And if they bring us a national title, I will lose my mind! And endlessly mock Michigan fans for not getting Shannon.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I just want to observe, player compensation and player freedom of movement don't HAVE to be connected to one another. As indeed they are not in pro sports, if you sign a 4-year deal, you're stuck with that team for four years unless the team decides otherwise.
In the run-up to the NIL explosion, the NCAA kept giving in on player movement issues IN LIEU OF player compensation issues. They opened one set of floodgates in order to avoid opening another, until the dam burst entirely.
But I think, and I think this gets at @Bbuck21's point, a world in which everybody is recruiting everybody's roster every offseason and full college careers at one school are relatively rare is a much more destructive thing for the fabric and the culture of college sports than the players being paid.
College sports is different because your school belongs to you for life, it's a singular experience at a precious and memorable age, and as sports fans we get to see these young guys go through that in a way analogous to how we did. You strip that out and it's just minor league sports.
The minor league-ization is why I am pessimistic about the future.
agree they don't need to be connected, however, the colleges desperately want to ensure that players aren't considered employees. So I'm not sure there was any other option.
And I hate to say it, but I think 95% of fans don't care about the names of the players, but the results. Did OSU fans care that Justin Fields started at another college?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
In any given case? No.
In aggregate? Look at this thread. You can see it bubbling up among the rank and file fans. "Hey wait a minute, these aren't OUR guys anymore."
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Great point - what is stopping the NFL from pumping money and resources into NIL at Georgia, Bama, OSU, others to ensure a high level of competition (I e. AAA CFB) so that kids can be vetted for the draft and contribute more quickly with lower talent management risk.
I am certainly well aware of what has essentially gone on forever (I know all about Wooden/UCLA). It is possible that Illinois was the first one to screw it up with The Slush Fund and that was in the 60's. But, there is no way it was as wide spread and as lucrative as it is going to be now.
In regards to "giving friends !!!!" for outbidding them for a star player, I always much preferred to "talk smack" (I guess that's the phrase I would use if I was younger) when one of those teams came up very short. I got real pleasure from the Fab-5 results.
I don't believe I could characterize players as being "completely screwed". Somehow that scholarship for full rides is being forgotten. We didn't need NIL to give them their freedom, which I agree wih. I have been a proponent for many years of compensating players fairly with a stipend. I am not talking about relative to money they brought in. Use something like minimum wage for the time (20-25 hours per week). Make it easier for these student/athletes to get through college witout what was seedy/shady practices. Of course the NCAA (whoever that is) businessmen could have figured a way to live without NIL.
JMHO, it's too late. I'll learn to live with it.
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Way, way more than that. Especially if you include academic commitments, which I understand from the tone of your post you wouldn't and I understand why.
But the time commitment for D1 sports is completely insane, you really have to understand that.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
Lane Kiffin clearly likes what he's seen from Thompson (Alabama) quarterback Trent Seaborn. Seaborn earned playing time early in his eighth-grade season for Thompson and was the starter when leading the Warriors to the state championship in November. Now he's earned his first SEC offer before reaching high school, announcing on Twitter that Ole Miss had made its move
Wisconsin, Nebraska, Arizona State, Marshall, Hawaii and Northern Colorado have already offered the class of 2027 quarterback.
The 5-foot-11 14-year-old also thrives in band playing the baritone saxophone. In two more years he can also drive the team bus
Seaborn has a chance to end up being the first college quarterback to also play a halftime show in the band, and he has lots of time to consider his options.
Wisconsin, Nebraska, Arizona State, Marshall, Hawaii and Northern Colorado have already offered the class of 2027 quarterback.
The 5-foot-11 14-year-old also thrives in band playing the baritone saxophone. In two more years he can also drive the team bus
Seaborn has a chance to end up being the first college quarterback to also play a halftime show in the band, and he has lots of time to consider his options.
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I complete agree that "minimum wage" is probably not an accurate scale. But, it was just my example of a method that might have created a fair balance instead of throwing in the towel and accepting major collegiate athletes are professionals availabe to the highest bidder. I definitely factored in both academic and athletic time commitment. I worked throughout most of my college career in engeineering. That is my point, those athletes could not work for spending money (in my case living money), so college admins/NCAA should have figured out a way to compensate them for those "legal" extra hours they put in as a team member.
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