Kirk Herbstreit sounds alarm on pay-to-play inducements: 'That’s not what NIL was about'

For as long as Kirk Herbstreit has been around college football, the last year has completely changed the landscape he’s once been able to predict so easily.

The former Ohio State quarterback and current ESPN college football analyst is one of the most recognized and respected names in the sport. He’s called every College Football Playoff national championship game.

But in the last 13 months, phrases such as “pay-to-play” and “recruiting inducements” have become part of everyday conversation. Name, Image and Likeness has allowed dormant college football programs to suddenly enter the top tier of the sport’s recruiting due to wealthy alumni bases.

And it’s all thanks to NIL. Contracts between NIL collectives and recruits are being signed in return for compensation and enrollment. It’s unheralded. And it has turned Herbstreit’s beloved sport upside down.

“That’s not what NIL was about,” Herbstreit recently told the LA Times. “It was about Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud or a guy who was established on the field creating marketing opportunities. It’s not about trying to outbid another booster to try to get a recruit. That’s just not a healthy model.

“It’s terrible for the sport. It puts these coaches in weird spots. What I’m about is the next wave — the ESPN money, the FOX money, it’s going into the Big Ten from FOX and the SEC from ESPN. I’m all about the players saying, ‘Forget NIL. Let’s negotiate and get a share of those dollars. Oh, we’re going to a 16-team playoff? How many billions of dollars? OK, we need a share of that.’”

Herbstreit’s largest concern is with the state of college football recruiting — the piles of cash that are being exchanged on the recruiting trail. The numbers are inflated. NIL recruiting rumors take off like wildfire.

But NIL is playing a factor in an athlete’s recruitment. In a survey conducted by On3 earlier this summer, 30 percent of 85 of the nation’s top 200 recruits surveyed said they would be willing to go to a school that’s not a perfect fit for a NIL deal.

That’s a lot. There’s now the infamous story of Warren High School’s Nico Iamaleava, the five-star recruit behind a potential $8 million NIL deal. It’s not been officially confirmed he is the recruit behind the reported deal with Tennessee collective Spyre Sports Group. But within just 10 days of the deal being signed, the Long Beach, California, native committed to Tennessee.

When Herbstreit was playing at Ohio State, he wasn’t able to make a dollar off his own autograph. Now the five-star quarterback recruit is believed to be making $8 million to go play in SEC Country. Herbstreit’s biggest issue with the situation isn’t making a knock on the athlete — he’s thinking about what it means for college football.

“How can an adult with a good conscience say this is awesome for the sport?” he said. “What’s going to happen when the kid from [Warren], as an example? Hopefully, he’s a great player. But, with the reports about [him receiving] three years, $8 million, what if he doesn’t? What if he struggles? What happens then? I mean, that’s gonna happen eventually. How are those guys in Knoxville gonna feel about that? How’s it gonna go over in a locker room, you know?”

On Saturday night, the Kirk Herbstreit will be right back inside Ohio Stadium in Columbus. The Buckeyes are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Horseshoe, kicking off the season against No. 5 Notre Dame.

Herbstreit’s honest. He’s come around on the ideas of TV revenue sharing — an official title for pay-to-play. It’s a topic that was brought to national attention this summer when a Penn State student chapter was nearly started.

Surely, NIL will come up when he is calling the game next to Chris Fowler. Over the last 13 months, NIL has changed the trajectory of the sport.

And Kirk Herbstreit will be back on television, trying to explain its impact to the rest of the nation.