Nick Saban is not making accusations, but NIL needs fixing

After allegations have been levied at SEC teams about using NIL deals to recruit players, Alabama head coach Nick Saban offered his concerns. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher made a heated series of comments about allegations that Aggie boosters worked together to recruit players to the program with NIL deals, a future Saban is hoping doesn’t come about.

Nick Saban on NIL problems

“This is a philosophical question,” began Saban on the problems arising from NIL rules. “I think players have always been able to work. I think it’s a good thing that players now have an opportunity to work and make money through Name, Image and Likeness.

“I would hope that we come up with some system in the future — and I’m not accusing anybody of anything — I don’t think players should make a decision about where they go to school relative to how much money they’re going to make in Name, Image and Likeness.

“I think all the players on our team who made money in Name, Image and Likeness this year had representation on their own. And all those deals were created on their own based on their brand and what they did. There’s nobody at this institution that had anything to do with any of that. Somebody should pick a school because of the institution, the relationships that they have. How they can develop personally, academically and athletically and the kind of program that they have — and the kind of institution that they wanna go to.

“I just hope that it doesn’t get to where Name, Image and Likeness deals are created for high school players to get them to go to a particular institution. And I’m not accusing anybody of that, I’m not saying anybody did that, that’s not why I’m saying this. I’m just saying philosophically I think it’s great that players can earn the right to make money through Name, Image and Likeness when they’re on a college team. I just hope it doesn’t get to that point because then you open up a whole new can of worms when it comes to recruiting.”

Saban made it clear that he didn’t want to get involved with accusations about NIL, such as the comments from Fisher and Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin. However, he was sure to clarify that his program was not involved in the practice of paying for players, and that he does not want that to become the standard for recruiting.