Nick Saban reveals how he would have handled NIL during his playing days

The football career of Nick Saban goes back quite a few years. Before building the Alabama dynasty or even before his first coaching job, Saban was a player himself. Kent State is where his college football was played after leading his high school to a state championship in West Virginia. Not too bad of a player.

So on Thursday, a question was posed to Saban about his potential earning opportunity if he played college football today. What kind of NIL would Saban have? Would his On3 NIL Valuation be up there with some of the best in college athletics today?

“I don’t think there’s anybody at Kent State that would have given us a deal,” Saban said. “But I don’t know.”

Saban is now one of the most recognizable faces in all of college football. He pops up on our television screens every Saturday when promoting insurance alongside Deion Sanders. The Duck has to be paying the duo a handsome fee.

If we were going back to Saban, the player, though, he is not sure how many NIL deals would be coming in for him.

Nick Saban believes today’s players create value for themselves in different ways

Saban obviously played in a different era of college football. Even if he were to play at Kent State today, his experience would be different than his players at Alabama. They are likely motivated by different factors, with college-aged Saban just looking to make a name for himself down the road.

“I wouldn’t trade my time in college,” Saban said. “Because when I was in college, your motivation was really because you didn’t have a lot and you were working toward trying to create more value for your future so that one day, maybe you could have something. So, the fear of failure was a tremendous motivator.”

There is not as much “hunger” from today’s players according to Saban. It’s something he tries to instill in his team, hoping they are able to create value for themselves in football and other factors of life.

“I think guys now are more challenged because they have more,” Saban said. “Which is a good thing for them. Their quality of life is a lot better. But in that, they can’t lose their hunger to create value for their future because that’s really why you go to college, get an education, and develop a career as a football player.”