Nebraska Football: The undeniably positive effect of NIL

Suppose you took a quick Twitter poll of whether Nebraska football fans thought that the overall effect of the introduction of NIL money to college football was. In that case, I think it’s a safe bet that a large percentage, if not the majority, would say it’s a net negative. However, those who believe it’s something that is making the game worse and not better are ignoring one big positive effect that could only get bigger over the next few years.

Those who don’t like how NIL money has changed college sports most often point to what they see as a ridiculous amount of money being offered to players to come to one school over another. Former Florida Gators commit Jaden Rashada was reportedly offered a whopping $13 million before that offer was pulled. A section of Nebraska football fans were convinced that offensive lineman Walter Rouse was only a Huskers commit for a few days because he was offered a bigger bag by Oklahoma. But even if he was, and even if you think the money offered to Jaden Rashada is insane, there’s still a very obvious positive coming from NIL.

As evidenced by a recent article from Footballscoop, the more money that gets poured into NIL deals in college football, the more college football players are sticking around and foregoing the NFL draft. It’s not a small change either. The numbers show a pretty massive impact.

Now that the deadline to declare early for the NFL draft has come and gone, the numbers are official. 82 players (including Nebraska football one-hit wonder Trey Palmer) went pro earlier than they had to. That’s less players declaring early in more than a decade.Two years into NIL being a reality, early entries dropped 18 percent from 2022 and the number of early entires were down 22 percent from 2021. Overall, the early entries dropped 36 percent since the beginning of Name Image and Likeness rights being a thing in college football.

Nebraska Football And Undeniable Positives Of NIL

Some Husker fans might argue that’s all well and good, but the NIL money didn’t keep Trey Palmer from leaving. It didn’t stop Garrett Nelson. “So why should we care?” They might ask.

Casey Thompson is returning for a second season in Lincoln. It’s hard to picture that happening without his ability to make some serious cash. That’s one. There will be others in the coming years.

And even if the Huskers don’t directly see a massive benefit, there isn’t really a way to argue that more kids sticking around and not leaving for the NFL isn’t a good thing for college football.

It’s not just the mid-tier players who still have something to prove either. Both Ohio State’s CJ Stroud and TCU’s Quentin Johnson waited right up until the deadline to announce they were going pro. Stroud, a potential Top 3 pick in this year’s draft, was said to be seriously considering staying with the Buckeyes.

NIL Needs Tweaking

This isn’t to say that the current NIL approach is perfect. There are changes that need to be made. the system needs to be perfected.

It’s worth mentioning that at the moment, I don’t know exactly how or where those tweaks would come from. But it’s undeniable that there is at least one big positive effect of arrival of NIL money and fans of Nebraska football should allow themselves to admit that.