Dave Portnoy confirms talks with Sherrone Moore after viral NIL comments over Michigan's QB future

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy recently made waves by suggesting he’d be willing to spend $3 million in NIL to help with the Michigan quarterback situation. Now, he’s confirmed he’s had conversations with head coach Sherrone Moore over those viral comments.

Portnoy explained that he does have concerns about getting overly involved with NIL dealings, but that he’s willing to spend the money.

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“My problem with the NIL, besides it’s a lot of money just to kind of throw out the window, but I’m willing to, like do it,” Dave Portnoy said. “I do not want to talk to other people. I don’t want to — I am not trying to get in the middle of the NIL, I do not want people I don’t know calling me, I don’t want to talk to this guy. I don’t want emails from that guy. I don’t want any of that. I don’t want any of that.”

Sherrone Moore did share some information with Dave Portnoy about how the process would work if he wants to help and spend millions of dollars on Michigan’s NIL operation.

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“I had Daniella, my assistant, ‘Someone at Michigan wants —,’ no. I don’t want to talk to any of you,” Portnoy said. “I talked to Sherrone. I talked to him. I have his number, we talked. He told me the one guy I got to talk to. One guy to talk to, I’ve not talked to that person. I will, and then we’ll see.”

One major concern for Portnoy is that he doesn’t want to work with the NIL collective at Michigan thanks to a business disagreement, though he was not specific about the issue. Instead, he explained that he wants the relationship to be with the player directly.

“But I’m not going to, like — I’ve said this, the collective. There’s a company involved in the Michigan collective that I fucking hate,” Portnoy said. “And I had a bad experience with Barstool with them. I will not associate with this company ever, so that almost — they’re out. So, I gotta see. And I don’t want middlemen. I don’t want any of it. I want the quarterback’s cell phone number, just because it’s like we got to schedule when we’re doing our things at Barstool. That’s it. So we’ll see.”

The quarterback position has become a concern for Michigan this season, with Sherrone Moore already changing the team’s starter from Davis Warren to Alex Orji. Since that change, the Wolverines haven’t lost but Orji is only averaging 59 passing yards per game.

It was because of those issues that Portnoy initially offered $3 million in an NIL deal to get whatever transfer quarterback Moore and Michigan want.

The NIL value of transfer quarterbacks

Per On3’s Pete Nakos, that $3 million NIL figure from Portnoy would put the quarterback that Michigan lands among the Top 5 highest-ranked NIL valuations in the On3 NIL 100.

“The going rate for an elite transfer portal quarterback is $1 million, but that is just the floor. Multiple quarterbacks this past offseason commanded deals worth over $1 million annually from NIL collectives,” On3’s NIL expert Pete Nakos said. “Landing a quarterback for $3 million would be an outlier in the portal unless it is a multi-year deal and Portnoy tries to land a top-ranked quarterback recruit.”

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation establishes the overall NIL market and projected 12-month growth rate for an Athlete by measuring two categories: Roster Value and NIL.

The majority of dollars athletes earn is based on their Roster Value. Roster Value collects data from all school collectives, players, and representatives using a proprietary Roster Management algorithm. NIL value measures the licensing and sponsorship market through exposure and social media influence. Roster Value and NIL combine to create the overall On3 NIL Valuation.

For a comparison to what Dave Portnoy has said he’s willing to spend, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Texas quarterback Arch Manning, currently have valuations of more than $3 million. Longhorns starter Quinn Ewers sits just behind Manning with a valuation of $2.2 million. Then, Ohio State transfer quarterback Will Howard has a valuation of $1.3 million.

It remains to be seen if Dave Portnoy does set up an NIL deal for the next great Michigan quarterback. For now, though, it does appear to be on the table.