Since the introduction of NIL and the transfer portal, we’ve heard and read countless perspectives from coaches, analysts, and media members regarding the changes and ripple effects that college football has found itself dancing with – for better or worse depends on perspective.
Meanwhile, the viewpoint of players has been relatively quiet, at least in comparison. Especially the perspective of the players watching the guys they’ve played alongside who have decided to chase opportunities at a higher level, or NIL opportunities not offered to everyone in the locker room.
That’s about to change significantly with this open letter.
A highly successful college coach shared this open letter exclusively with FootballScoop, written by one of his players, earlier today and it reads equal parts warning and also a love letter to the college football we’ve seemingly left behind.
Dear Football,
This is how the game is being destroyed.
This is how young people will fail to learn the gifts that the game was meant to teach them.
Football, you had the ability to take a hundred young individuals, from completely different backgrounds, and unite them to work together as one team. To let them experience the magic of how a common love for you strengthens each one’s ability exponentially when they work together. You gave them the chance to see how each and every team member is valuable, that no one person is more important or can win a national championship by themselves. You taught them that they need the sacrifice and support of their teammates, and that they need to sacrifice and support as well. You taught them the value of humility and putting the team before themselves. And you taught them the sweetness of victory, made even sweeter because it was shared with every member of the team, the school, and the program.
Sorry football, the portal and N.I.L. has changed all that. It has taken the focus off of you and the team, and put the focus on individuals and their own personal gain. Young players who came to the school for the love of the game, the school’s program, and to pursue an education, are being seduced and distracted by the lure of money and fame. These young men are being exploited by big money schools and programs, often just to pad their rosters. Their focus is turned by these sales pitches, away from the team and the program that invested in them and helped develop their skills and character, and placed it on the monetization of their abilities.
They are being hounded by slick agents who operate with no rules, guardrails, or scruples. These young men have less protection than the adult NFL players. They are being encouraged to jump ship from their teammates to make quick money now, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.
Football, they are idealistic enough to think that this is the beginning of a football career and not the end of it. There are no statistics suggesting that the portal increases the odds of going on to pro football. There are no studies suggesting that leaving your teammates to join a new team, leads to increased emotional satisfaction, but it is not rocket science to see that a five to six year bond will be stronger than a one or two year bond. And it is fact that education wise, a player could lose a percent of his college credits that do not transfer, which puts earning a degree in jeopardy.
Football, I am worried for our players, that this exploitation is at the cost of their mental health and their future careers, whether in football or, more likely, whatever they pursue in their education, if they are even able to finish. Many players are able to attend college because of football scholarship money. When they transfer and lose credits, their academic years will likely be extended beyond their football eligibility, and they will not be able to afford to finish. The contradiction of the portal is that while it might give the young athletes more options now, is it limiting their options for their future?
Football, I am worried for the future of young athletes, and I’m worried for the smaller programs that are suffering because of the portal. The smaller universities have always given opportunity to players who have been overlooked by the big schools. Players that have proven to have just as much potential and talent as players in the bigger programs, but who benefitted from being mentored, invested in, and taught what it means to be loved in a football family. These are the kids we pour our heart and souls into. These kids pour their heart and souls into the game and into their team. When they enter the portal they lose a little bit of their souls and take a little bit of soul from their teammates and coaches, the program and their university. They unintentionally further hobble the team by devaluing their teammates. Instead of seeing the team as the treasure, it makes the players the commodities, to be bought and sold like property. Their former teammates feeling the sting of being left, are also left with the challenge of rebuilding the team. The coaches and program must deal with recruiting higher numbers than naturally would occur, and without the fat wallet of the bigger schools. This creates an even bigger disparity between the rich and the poor, so to speak. There should be some compensation to the programs, whose players are being harvested, to at least keep them competitive, or they will become just a stepping stone or developmental division.
Football, the college game should be about developing young athletes to be men of character. Men who know and have experienced the value of hard work, dedication, humility, and the love good coaches and teammates share. Men who value the joy and satisfaction of being part of something bigger than themselves. Football, for years you have been an incredible force in turning boys into men! I pray that you can still do that for future generations, but change must happen for you to succeed.
Powerful words and thoughts from this young man.
The floor is open, let us hear your feedback in the comments below.
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