At the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham on May 8, Hugh Freeze delivered a pro-player statement regarding NIL contracts: recruits ought to be allowed to sign contracts akin to his pro sports-style agreements and Auburn football coaching contract.
“You must bring it to campus and sign them to a contract just like I sign a contract,” Freeze stated in a public statement (h/t AL.com). It’s excellent if they want a one-year deal. It’s excellent if they want a two-year deal. However, once you sign it, someone has to give Auburn money—just like if I leave Auburn. And that’s how I think it ought to be. That, in my opinion, would greatly increase its sanity.
Maybe Freeze will get his desire. Director of Bowl Season Nick Carparelli is working to get pay-to-play contracts into the Power 4 ranks as quickly as possible, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.
“Bowl Season director Nick Carparelli told Yahoo Sports in Phoenix that he expects NIL to soon come ‘in-house’ and for athletes to sign binding compensation contracts with schools that will require them to play in bowls and CFP games, eliminating or greatly reducing opt-outs,” writes Dellenger.
If NIL becomes in-house, Auburn football has the potential to become a recruiting powerhouse.
In an interview with me on January 31, Postgame CEO and co-founder Bill Jula hinted that schools all around the nation are already paying players directly. Colorado most likely made Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter two of the highest-paid athletes in the nation in order to entice Deion Sanders to join as head coach. However, Jula claims that Colorado doesn’t even come close to matching the recruiting offers that Texas and Ohio State make.
Regarding Auburn, the players are compensated by the Tigers via the On To Victory NIL collective. Should/will NIL eventually turn into a pay-to-play system as Carparelli hopes, Jimmy Rane of YellaWood, the “Yella Fella,” with enormous financial resources, might emerge as the most formidable recruiter in college football.
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