This year’s NFL draft prospects have experienced seismic shifts in college football during their careers
While the product on the field hasn’t endured many changes in recent years, the growth of name, image likeness (NIL) compensation and the transfer portal has spawned a new era of the NCAA student-athlete experience.
“I don’t have a problem with NIL and the transfer portal and whatnot, but probably just figure out a way to make it more organized,” former Michigan edge Josaiah Stewart said at last week’s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “Not just guys leaving left or right and getting paid out of high school, but just (finding) a way to keep it organized.”
Stewart was one of more than 300 prospects to attend the combine ahead of next month’s NFL draft in Green Bay, and MLive asked several what they would change about college football as they prepare for their professional careers.
NIL and the portal were the most common answers.
“I do think the NIL thing is kind of getting a little out of hand,” said tight end CJ Dippre, who played his first two years at Maryland before transferring to Alabama for his final two seasons. “I was in the portal. I got NIL money, but I think it’s kind of getting away from the main focus of football. There’s people making too much money. How do you look at somebody getting more money and then you’re playing more? I think it’s leveling the playing field, but there still needs to be a lot more restrictions than there are now.”
More regulation could soon be on its way.
The transfer portal is here to stay, but the new NCAA revenue-sharing model is slated to begin July 1 if the courts give final approval in the House vs. NCAA $2.8 billion settlement in April.
Under the new landmark settlement, schools will be able to directly pay their student-athletes through revenue sharing – up to around $20.5 million per year. Players will still be able to earn more through NIL compensation, but third-party deals of $600 or more from school-affiliated boosters or collectives would need to receive approval from a new NIL clearinghouse.
The clearinghouse will be charged with verifying authenticity of NIL deals using “fair market value,” which should curb phony compensation agreements, such as “pay for play.”
“I would say it’s kind of like a free fall right now with all the portal and the money and stuff,” Alabama safety Malachi Moore said. “But I feel like that might be a question for somebody else. I really don’t have too much insight on that.”
Michigan tight end Colston Loveland suggested adding restrictions to the portal.
“Find out somehow to put a limit on the portal, how many times people can enter the portal,” he said. “But I believe the portal is good for some situations. People thrive off hitting the portal, going to a team and having a successful career. But I feel like sometimes people kind of lose sight of what it is. I feel like it’s good to kind of stick it out sometimes and learn from those experiences.”
The 2024 season was the first under the new expanded College Football Playoff. Ohio State and Notre Dame each played 16 games, including the national championship that wasn’t played until Jan. 20. NFL draft prospects from each team had just over a month to prepare for the combine.
“Maybe just have the playoff games a little sooner so we have more opportunity, for the guys who go on the national championship runs, to prepare for the combine and stuff like that,” OSU safety Lathan Ransom said. “But other than that, I had an amazing amount of fun this year.”
Arkansas receiver Andrew Armstrong would like to see the NCAA adapt a gameplay rule from the NFL. In college, a player is automatically ruled down if any part of their body other than their hands or feet touches the ground, regardless of contact from an opponent.
That isn’t the case in the NFL.
“If you slip and fall down and nobody is around you, you can get up and run,” Armstrong suggested.
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