NIL changes coming at an inconveient time for college football coaches

The world of college athletics hasn’t stopped changing since the introduction of name, image, and likeness (NIL) a few years ago. Take this week for example, as movement in the NIL world has presented even more changes that are on the brink of officially being introduced, once again altering how we view college athletics.

Specifically, on Monday, Judge Claudia Wilken preliminarily approved the landscape-shifting House v. NCAA settlement in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Once the settlement ultimately goes through, roughly $2.75 billion in damages will be awarded to thousands of college athletes over a decade-long span.

With that agreement, an increase in scholarship numbers would follow, bumping that number up from 85 to 105 for football. Then, on Wednesday, it was reported that the National Letter of Intent would be eliminated in favor of financial aid and revenue sharing. In short, there’s a lot going on right now — and a lot to take in for coaches currently in the middle of their seasons.

“We’re very confused,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops admitted Thursday.”I don’t even want to get into that tangent right now, I’ve got to go play a game (on Saturday). But we’ve got to go sign guys, we don’t even know exactly how much (scholarships we can use), we don’t what the revenue share (will be), we don’t know NIL — that just came down the pipe. There’s all kind of shit going on we don’t know.“

In terms of actually signing players to a program, not much will change once the dotted line is signed, but it goes beyond that. Stoops and his team likely had a plan mapped out based on the 85-scholarship limit. With news that an extra 20 roster spots will soon be available, that can change a staff’s entire recruiting philosophy. How athletes would actually receive NIL money through revenue sharing — which is coming sooner rather than later — is not completely clear yet, either.

“There’s been so much going on, so many moving pieces in the middle of our season, that quite honestly, myself and a bunch of our colleagues, we have no idea what the heck is going on,” Stoops said. “I guess it doesn’t change much. We’ll still sign them on Signing Day and go from there.”

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