Matt Rhule: Ohio State's roster is not about NIL

Ohio State has one of the best rosters, if not the best one, in all of college football. While it took an investment, Matt Rhule says it’s that good for more reasons than just NIL.

Rhule received a question this week about the Buckeyes’ roster in the context of how revenue-sharing would take away their advantage of putting a team that good together moving forward. He disagreed to an extent as he thinks money has less to do with how great they are than the fact that they’re one of the best programs in the sport that players want to play for.

“I want to first give credit to Ryan Day, okay, in that those guys are at Ohio State because Ohio State wins and people, players want to go to a winner, okay,” said Rhule. “I mean, so, while there is, you know, an NIL component to everybody? Ryan has won, right. Urban won, Jim Tressel won. You know, Ohio State has won a ton so kids want to go be a part of one of the best programs in the country, right. You know, best receiving corps over the last however many years, all first-round quarterbacks.”

“To me, Ohio State’s roster is not about NIL. It’s about guys saying, ‘Hey, I want to go play at a place that competes for championships’, you know,” Rhule said.

Rhule also contradicted as he isn’t sure how much of an actual effect that any of that has on the game.

“To your point, I just don’t know if we know how revenue sharing is going to work yet. There’s still no manual that’s been handed out of, like, here’s how it’s going to work. In theory, if everyone has the same dollar figures, then you should bring about more parity,” said Rhule. “On the flip side of that, you know, no one know the impact of NIL.”

Ohio State is the No. 4 team in the nation with a record of 5-1. This comes after an offseason where there was reportedly significant financing to retain and add to their team.

However, the Buckeyes having a .740 all-time winning percentage, including an .871 one under Day, with eight national titles has a lot to do with it too according to Rhule. That’s the model that he’s more interested in as far as his own tenure at Nebraska.

“For us? Like, for us to get to that point, we’ve got to win enough to justify players taking a chance on us until we’re at the top of the mountain and then everyone wants to come. You know, you can’t have many 56-7 games, right. You’ve got to go compete at a high level. We’ll get there.”

So, how much of a difference is there really between the ‘Huskers and the Buckeyes? We’ll find out this weekend when the two kick off from Columbus.