Tyler Russell on Facebook

[preacher_dawg]

These kids have lost their mind. No pride anymore playing for a particular school!!! If the transfer portal was a thing back when I played, would I have left state? I can’t answer that, but if I did, there would not be any amount of money they could give me to go play at Ole Miss. The transfer portal and NIL is taking the heart and passion out of the game in my opinion. It’s teaching the kids that it’s ok to quit on your team. if you didn’t win the starting job, or he’s getting more money then Im getting so I’ll leave. It blows my mind.

 

[dorndawg]

At the rate it's going, college football will relatively soon be about as culturally relevant as boxing and horse racing. Big events will still garner eyeballs and there will be $$$ for a small handful, but it will be an empty shell of what it once was.

 

[Dawgg]

I’m going to be honest, when you put it like that, it sounds like the real job market and the risks and rewards associated with changing jobs.

If I was unhappy with my current position or the money I’m making and I know an opportunity is open somewhere else, then I would go and apply for it. Maybe it gets better, maybe it gets worse, but the opportunity for change is there.

Maybe the NIL is preparing these kids for the real world after all.

Now, I say that as a person that’s been with their current company for almost 15 years, but I feel like that is more of an outlier these days than the norm for folks my age (early 40’s).

 

[Perd Hapley]

At the rate it's going, college football will relatively soon be about as culturally relevant as boxing and horse racing. Big events will still garner eyeballs and there will be $$$ for a small handful, but it will be an empty shell of what it once was.

It already is an empty shell of what it was. Regarding MSU football, does anyone feel the same high right now that they had after the Egg Bowl in 2010, when we had basically the exact same season result? The answer is absolutely not, and the reason is because the product is terrible due to no emotional investment in the players because you know half of them won’t be there next year or even for this season’s bowl game.

As Jerry Seinfeld famously said, we are all just “rooting for laundry” at this point, which sucks. College sports used to be the only place where that wasn’t the case.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

I’m going to be honest, when you put it like that, it sounds like the real job market and the risks and rewards associated with changing jobs.

That’s true. And what’s also true is nobody pays big money to watch me type numbers into a spreadsheet or write e-mails at my job. The eyeballs and big money in the college football equation comes from things like tradition, falling in love with a special player over 4 years, loyalty to a school, hope for a special championship season, and all the other things that are actively being undermined and destroyed by this absurd system that has been unleashed.

 

[LordMcBuckethead]

Say what you want, players like DJ, Marks, Wheat, Austin, WRogers, Bookie, Tulu, and a few others is what makes me keep coming back. Conference foes taking coaches from your team, is BS. It ruins it. Everyone can agree that players shouldn't be hog tied to a particular school for their careers, and I am sure everyone can agree if a player can make money off of their NIL, then they should be able to do that. What is great about the transfer portal is also what is terrible about the transfer portal. I love seeing a player work hard for two years and then dominate as a RS sophemore coming in and finally getting their moment. That is what is cool about college football. That is what used to be cool with College Basketball.

But then ESPN had to create the SEC Network. Which gave us every single SEC homegame on TV, but then also turned the season into a 60M/Yr money making extravaganza. With that kind of money, the players getting nothing thrown their way was/is BS. They had an opportunity to set a stipend for the players, the NCAA balked. They brought it up again, Balked. NCAA 2014 college football game had to be dropped. And then finally the courts and congress got involved, as they should have. The NCAA getting fat was running slave labor, and it had to stop.

So since they couldn't police themselves, **** had to go through legal.

I hope they figure it out, because I think something will have to change. A significant amount of these transfer portal kids are not going to find a place to land, and that sucks. Why play for a team that cannot offer NIL money and the other team over there can? I get it. Not a fan of it, but I get it.

 

[L4Dawg]

At the rate it's going, college football will relatively soon be about as culturally relevant as boxing and horse racing. Big events will still garner eyeballs and there will be $$$ for a small handful, but it will be an empty shell of what it once was.

The boxing analogy is a good one. Back when I was a kid in the 70s every kid knew who the heavyweight champion was, and usually several others besides. Boxing was a BIG deal. Interest in it just tanked when greed took over. I see college football headed the same way.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

These kids have lost their mind. No pride anymore playing for a particular school!!! If the transfer portal was a thing back when I played, would I have left state? I can’t answer that, but if I did, there would not be any amount of money they could give me to go play at Ole Miss. The transfer portal and NIL is taking the heart and passion out of the game in my opinion. It’s teaching the kids that it’s ok to quit on your team. if you didn’t win the starting job, or he’s getting more money then Im getting so I’ll leave. It blows my mind.

He nailed it!

 

[L4Dawg]

It already is an empty shell of what it was. Regarding MSU football, does anyone feel the same high right now that they had after the Egg Bowl in 2010, when we had basically the exact same season result? The answer is absolutely not, and the reason is because the product is terrible due to no emotional investment in the players because you know half of them won’t be there next year or even for this season’s bowl game.

As Jerry Seinfeld famously said, we are all just “rooting for laundry” at this point, which sucks. College sports used to be the only place where that wasn’t the case.

High school football is still that way.

 

[8dog]

At the rate it's going, college football will relatively soon be about as culturally relevant as boxing and horse racing. Big events will still garner eyeballs and there will be $$$ for a small handful, but it will be an empty shell of what it once was.

College Gameday had one of its best years in a long time so we are a long way from
That.

 

[johnson86-1]

High school football is still that way.

Lot of recruiting in high school sports now too though. Going to be somewhat limited by geography on high school recruiting but still happens a good bit. How many players starting on private school football and basketball teams in the Jackson/Madison/Flowood area have been recruited and had all or a portion of their tuition paid for?

 

[STATEgrad04]

The biggest issue with the NIL culture is that we went from 0-100 overnight. There was no gradualness to it. The way that it is operating now should've happened much further down the road. It's been a slap in the face and a shock to the system. And I fully agree with what Tyler said.

 

[NukeDogg]

Say what you want, players like DJ, Marks, Wheat, Austin, WRogers, Bookie, Tulu, and a few others is what makes me keep coming back. Conference foes taking coaches from your team, is BS. It ruins it. Everyone can agree that players shouldn't be hog tied to a particular school for their careers, and I am sure everyone can agree if a player can make money off of their NIL, then they should be able to do that. What is great about the transfer portal is also what is terrible about the transfer portal. I love seeing a player work hard for two years and then dominate as a RS sophemore coming in and finally getting their moment. That is what is cool about college football. That is what used to be cool with College Basketball.

But then ESPN had to create the SEC Network. Which gave us every single SEC homegame on TV, but then also turned the season into a 60M/Yr money making extravaganza. With that kind of money, the players getting nothing thrown their way was/is BS. They had an opportunity to set a stipend for the players, the NCAA balked. They brought it up again, Balked. NCAA 2014 college football game had to be dropped. And then finally the courts and congress got involved, as they should have. The NCAA getting fat was running slave labor, and it had to stop.

So since they couldn't police themselves, **** had to go through legal.

I hope they figure it out, because I think something will have to change. A significant amount of these transfer portal kids are not going to find a place to land, and that sucks. Why play for a team that cannot offer NIL money and the other team over there can? I get it. Not a fan of it, but I get it.

To the bolded point at the bottom - it's too easy for a player to enter the portal, shop around, and then decide to withdraw from the portal and land right back where he was with full scholarship still intact. If entering the portal removed the option of coming back I bet it would cut down (maybe not bigly, but some) on how many entered. Those end of bench guys that are just searching for playing time might think twice, and hopefully would stay and work hard and be that RS sophomore finally getting their moment.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Tyler is right.

speaking of him, I would have loved to see him in this offense.

 

[Dawgg]

If the transfer portal was a thing back when I played, would I have left state? I can’t answer that, but if I did, there would not be any amount of money they could give me to go play at Ole Miss.

I'm going to be honest with you. I 17ing hate Ole Miss & have since the day I was born in Oktibbeha County Hospital, but I can't say 18-21 year old me would turn down a huge payday to spend a year in Oxford. I'm pretty sure there's a number they could hit to get me to stand next to Orgeron and talk about how much we love Hummers from Rogers Dabb. "Tell 'em bout it, Jojo"

I'm not saying anything you're saying is wrong. I'm just trying to be honest with myself about it if I were in their shoes.

 

[OopsICroomedmypants]

The FANatics in sports is what makes this NIL unlike any other business. Name, Image and Likeness originally started because players were left off of the profit balance sheet they were contributing to. Video game companies and others used their NIL to make money, so the players finally resisted. Now they get “NIL” money from places that don’t use their NIL. Most NIL funds aren’t about profit, they are straight up bribery. This is not how businesses should be run and it will not stay this way.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

These kids have lost their mind. No pride anymore playing for a particular school!!! If the transfer portal was a thing back when I played, would I have left state? I can’t answer that, but if I did, there would not be any amount of money they could give me to go play at Ole Miss. The transfer portal and NIL is taking the heart and passion out of the game in my opinion. It’s teaching the kids that it’s ok to quit on your team. if you didn’t win the starting job, or he’s getting more money then Im getting so I’ll leave. It blows my mind.

I agree with others. It's not sustainable. Even at some point boosters will sick of this crap and they'll pull their funding.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

The biggest issue with the NIL culture is that we went from 0-100 overnight. There was no gradualness to it. The way that it is operating now should've happened much further down the road. It's been a slap in the face and a shock to the system. And I fully agree with what Tyler said.

I like the word "gradualness". I'm not sure if it is a word but I like it!

 

[stateu1]

I like the word "gradualness". I'm not sure if it is a word but I like it!

Graduality?

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Lot of recruiting in high school sports now too though. Going to be somewhat limited by geography on high school recruiting but still happens a good bit. How many players starting on private school football and basketball teams in the Jackson/Madison/Flowood area have been recruited and had all or a portion of their tuition paid for?

Along with being the Prince of Darkness I also coach football in the Jackson area as a side job. I have done it for the past 12 years and I can tell you that the private schools swoop into places like Wingfield, Forest Hill, Provine, and Jim Hill all over South Jackson and take anything they want. It is not just the JA'S, MRA'S, Prep's of the world either it is the Catholic schools as well. Hell Hartfield is doing so much they had to tell their head football coach to cut it out because parents were complaining the the entire football team was going to be on scholarship and they did not want to pay for it in full.

Now it is very true that you can not blame the kids and parents for taking the better option. Essentially they are being asked do you want your child to go to school in literally the worst schools in America? Or do you want them to be exposed to things and get opportunities they could not even sniff in the South Side? No non crazy parent is going to say no to what they have to offer.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Graduality?

Not as good. I'm also a fan of complify. If you can simplify you should be able to complify things.

 

[RocketDawg]

I’m going to be honest, when you put it like that, it sounds like the real job market and the risks and rewards associated with changing jobs.

If I was unhappy with my current position or the money I’m making and I know an opportunity is open somewhere else, then I would go and apply for it. Maybe it gets better, maybe it gets worse, but the opportunity for change is there.

Maybe the NIL is preparing these kids for the real world after all.

Now, I say that as a person that’s been with their current company for almost 15 years, but I feel like that is more of an outlier these days than the norm for folks my age (early 40’s).

But college athletes don't have a job like you do. They're supposed to be students that have been given a totally free ride, and then some.

 

[RocketDawg]

I agree with others. It's not sustainable. Even at some point boosters will sick of this crap and they'll pull their funding.

I was watching a game a few weeks ago, I think it was Texas, and the announcers said something to the effect that to keep a certain player they'd have to come up with $7M, in his opinion. That's pretty absurd. I doubt any school would pay Albert Einstein that sort of money if he was still alive.

 

[johnson86-1]

Along with being the Prince of Darkness I also coach football in the Jackson area as a side job. I have done it for the past 12 years and I can tell you that the private schools swoop into places like Wingfield, Forest Hill, Provine, and Jim Hill all over South Jackson and take anything they want. It is not just the JA'S, MRA'S, Prep's of the world either it is the Catholic schools as well. Hell Hartfield is doing so much they had to tell their head football coach to cut it out because parents were complaining the the entire football team was going to be on scholarship and they did not want to pay for it in full.

Now it is very true that you can not blame the kids and parents for taking the better option. Essentially they are being asked do you want your child to go to school in literally the worst schools in America? Or do you want them to be exposed to things and get opportunities they could not even sniff in the South Side? No non crazy parent is going to say no to what they have to offer.

Don't blame the kid or the parents. And it's not necessarily a bad thing; it's good thing to the extent it gets generally good kids out of a bad situation.

But it really blows my mind that people pay for recruits in high school. If I'm a parent paying private school tuition, it would be somewhat annoying to see my kid benched because somebody was promised tuition and whatever else to come take his spot. I know it's not technically the school giving the scholarship, but I would still be highly pissed to help pay for an athletic budget for 4, 7, or even 12 years and have high school spots go to players whose family haven't paid anything towards the athletic department. You sure as hell wouldn't get a dime out of me past tuition. I'd just tell them to come back when the athletic department is completely funded by donations.

 

[The Peeper]

College Gameday had one of its best years in a long time so we are a long way from
That.

College Gameday is a tv show that students go and stand around on a campus and watch live for free or people sitting at home (and not in the stands on campuses) turn on as background chatter while they cook breakfast. I don't know anything about their ratings this past season, but this offseason is what's going to determine their future, not this past seasons viewers for them. It's not going to go well I'm afraid.

 

[8dog]

College Gameday is a tv show that students go and stand around on a campus and watch live for free or people sitting at home (and not in the stands on campuses) turn on as background chatter while they cook breakfast. I don't know anything about their ratings this past season, but this offseason is what's going to determine their future, not this past seasons viewers for them. It's not going to go well I'm afraid.

Call it what you want but College Gameday is a pretty decent indicator. People have huffed and puffed about this and it’s all doing fine. Now with a 12 team playoff interest will only get better.

 

[mstateglfr]

For anyone else lost, the OP's entire first post is pulled from Tyler Russell's facebook. That is the post.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Don't blame the kid or the parents. And it's not necessarily a bad thing; it's good thing to the extent it gets generally good kids out of a bad situation.

But it really blows my mind that people pay for recruits in high school. If I'm a parent paying private school tuition, it would be somewhat annoying to see my kid benched because somebody was promised tuition and whatever else to come take his spot. I know it's not technically the school giving the scholarship, but I would still be highly pissed to help pay for an athletic budget for 4, 7, or even 12 years and have high school spots go to players whose family haven't paid anything towards the athletic department. You sure as hell wouldn't get a dime out of me past tuition. I'd just tell them to come back when the athletic department is completely funded by donations.

It is a great thing for that child. It does create problems however in the ways you are talking about. I mean your have been donating to an athletic program since little Johnny was in 5th grade and his junior or senior year in comes a kid that has paid nothing to take that spot.
It does kill the programs that are over here and ends up with not being able to retain quality coaches. If I am a coach at Wingfield or Jim Hill I am essentially a minor league system for the private schools. We lost our best running back just that way this year.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

We lost our best running back just that way this year.

Slight hijack:

As both the Debil & a coach, do you teach your kids to fake injuries?

Asking for a friend...named Lane.

 

[turkish]

At the rate it's going, college football will relatively soon be about as culturally relevant as boxing and horse racing. Big events will still garner eyeballs and there will be $$$ for a small handful, but it will be an empty shell of what it once was.

While NIL was intended to give athletes “their share,” I think there is a real scenario whereby more opportunity is lost for college athletes in the long run. IOW, the net impact may be detrimental.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Slight hijack:

As both the Debil & a coach, do you teach your kids to fake injuries?

Asking for a friend...named Lane.

No I do not. I try to work with them on being I shape so we do not have to do that for a fast paced offense.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

Graduality?

Gradience?

 

[L4MANDW]

Pretty soon kids who stay at one school over a year will be a stat line….

 

[hdogg]

People who change jobs every 2 years are honestly not very good coworkers. They move around and get the big raises when things are good, but eventually they flatline, keep moving around, and don't get much better at their job.
There are exceptions, but I've never had a job hopper on my team that I was happy working with.
Obviously there are big differences between a full career and a 5 year college career, but the idea of a team is still the same.
In football, I can see an xfer if you aren't getting reps, not otherwise.
So yeah Tyler Russell is right. And anyone who would go to umiss for any amount of $$ can ...and will...go to hell.

 

[Balls.sixpack]

NIL will slowly be the death of college football. I know people say those kinds of things all the time and the counter argument is "LoOk aT TeXaS A&m". That is an outlier and we'll slowly see more lower and mid tier teams picked apart every offseason as boosters begin to wise up. Why pay a kid $1 million out of highschool when you can pick up a proven college level player from a Louisiana Tech or Ball State team.

I might be a little behind on all of the NIL rules but in a perfect world, any NIL deal that is done with a player voids any scholarship, financial aid, etc. and should be subject to previous transferring rules.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I'm not trying to sound like that saying I told you so but back when you guys were nitpicking over our football team I tried to warn you not to be so sure about things, because whatever you are thinking you know and have a solid grasp on when it comes to college football. I tried to warn people back then that we were acting like everything's the way it used to be with our normal every day complaints about our football team. I was afraid that whatever we thought we knew about football was all about to really undergo some huge changes.

I know I know I was wrong. It's even worse than I thought it was gonna be. I'm afraid college football the way we knew it is long gone. I'm not talking about the good old days just some semblance of fair practice. We all knew that everybody had different recruiting rules but this is something completely different and followers because they don't even have to hide with they are doing anymore.


At least the NFL is fun to watch again

 

[GloryDawg]

We thought Gen Y was bad

Not as good. I'm also a fan of complify. If you can simplify you should be able to complify things.

Is that dotted or feathered? ******

 

[maroonmania]

I’m going to be honest, when you put it like that, it sounds like the real job market and the risks and rewards associated with changing jobs.

If I was unhappy with my current position or the money I’m making and I know an opportunity is open somewhere else, then I would go and apply for it. Maybe it gets better, maybe it gets worse, but the opportunity for change is there.

Maybe the NIL is preparing these kids for the real world after all.

Now, I say that as a person that’s been with their current company for almost 15 years, but I feel like that is more of an outlier these days than the norm for folks my age (early 40’s).

Its not really like the real world though because real world jobs don't depend on fans paying to watch you do your job (unless you are in the entertainment industry). The only reason these kids have a built in fanbase to watch them is the emblem on the helmet representing a school where a lot of folks attended and spent 4 or more years of their lives. If college players just had minor league teams to play for, the games would be very poorly attended and the players would make diddly poo.

 

[Dawgg]

Its not really like the real world though because real world jobs don't depend on fans paying to watch you do your job (unless you are in the entertainment industry). The only reason these kids have a built in fanbase to watch them is the emblem on the helmet representing a school where a lot of folks attended and spent 4 or more years of their lives. If college players just had minor league teams to play for, the games would be very poorly attended and the players would make diddly poo.

I get what you're saying, but indulge me for a moment. There are some parallels that go along with any job. My current job doesn't rely on a fanbase paying specifically to watch me do my job, but it does depend on having a customer base paying for goods & services from the company where I'm employed. Also, me having my current employer and position on my resume (like playing a certain position and wearing a certain helmet decal) would help me get picked up by another company were I to put my resume on Monster (or enter the transfer portal). I feel like this is no different.

That being said, I want to be clear, I've never been in favor of paying college football players for a few reasons:
1. Because I knew it was going to be the equivalent of paying kids $20K to mow a lawn and we'd end up with affluent fanbases outbidding everybody else.
2. We already have runaway transferring in college basketball where the best players end up transferring to a blue blood after a season or two and I didn't want to see that in football.
3. I feel like you trade in the money-making part of it for exposure, class credit, and a scholarship like an unpaid internship.
4. Nobody is forcing these kids to make this choice. If they think they can get a better deal than what college football provides, go join the XFL or the USFL or the Spring League or the Fan Controlled Football.

 

[Seinfeld]

While NIL was intended to give athletes “their share,” I think there is a real scenario whereby more opportunity is lost for college athletes in the long run. IOW, the net impact may be detrimental.

I honestly don’t think there’s any question that this will be the case. The side that likes to toot NIL’s horn is good at painting a picture of the poor, overworked and under compensated college athlete now finally getting his/her fair share of the pie. The problem, though, is that we didn’t solve a single issue related to money hoarding. We just created a new subset of hoarders within college athletics.

There are nearly 500k student athletes that are part of the NCAA, and I’ve gotta ask… how many do y’all honestly think are getting NIL money these days? If we assume half of each FBS/FCS roster + half of men’s college basketball (which I think is a gross overestimate), that’s roughly 13k students. So congrats, 2.6% of our student athletes are now making $$$ while teammates putting in the same hours, walk ons, athletes that play non-profit sports, and actual college students training to become doctors, engineers, and educators don’t see ****

FWIW, I’m not against NIL, but people can spare me the chatter about how we’ve won an important battle for the underprivileged college student. We most certainly didn’t. We just created a new 1%