I came to a harsh realization as a college football fan today. Earlier, I stumbled across a “top NIL earners in the 2027 class” post from On3 and that made me realize now more than ever that college football — and in some cases, basketball — recruiting is officially dead.
As a Michigan State fan, college football recruiting has honestly been dead to me for years. Ever since Mel Tucker was fired, recruiting just hasn’t been nearly as exciting.
And now that NIL deals are apparently being tracked and recruits are being ranked by highest-paid, college football recruiting feels like a thing of the past. This is free agency now.
This isn’t exactly a shocking development. Everyone saw this coming the second NIL was implemented and remained unchecked. No one is policing NIL deals so it’s basically who can pay the most at this point. And now that the SEC is talking about breaking away from the NCAA which would mean self-governance and even more unchecked deals to student athletes.
It’s sad to see, but this ranking of top NIL deals in the 2027 class really just kills recruiting for me.
We’re all longing for the days of old college football recruiting
College football recruiting used to be fun. Heck, before that 2016 class fell apart, Mark Dantonio was finding his passion for recruiting and it was a beautiful sight.
Then Tucker showed flashes of being a great recruiter and he got more elite talent to campus for visits than we’ve ever seen before. The Spartans didn’t land any of those guys but hey, getting them to visit was half the battle.
Even Dantonio got his occasional surprise four-star to campus for visits and he was landing even some five-stars (Will Gholston, Malik McDowell) throughout his time. He landed highly-touted guys like LJ Scott and Lawrence Thomas and several others, but he also found his fair share of diamonds in the rough like Le’Veon Bell, Connor Cook, Darqueze Dennard, Jack Conklin, and Trae Waynes.
Recruiting used to be fun, but these unchecked NIL deals have ruined the sport. We now have recruiting sites talking about NIL deals before these recruits even get to campus.
I miss the good old days when all we had to worry about was which hat would get picked up at a live-streamed — half the time it looked like it was filmed on a potato — commitment ceremony.
Take me back.
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