MOBILE, Ala. — The word from Senior Bowl players is clear: the transfer portal remains a positive thing for college football, and NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) money seems less problematic than a couple of years ago, or possibly even last year.
The latter hints at a changing attitude. There’s not nearly as many players claiming NIL is bad for college football as two years ago. My thought? As players grow up in the NIL system, it becomes more normal, more accepted, and so do its warts.
The Senior Bowl marks my third time talking to players who have been through NIL and the transfer portal, two of the most controversial aspects of college football.
Clearly this is anecdotal. It’s not meant to be scientific. But talking to those who have lived it is important, and I listen to their insight when possible.
Senior Bowl players like both tools, the transfer portal and NIL.
Texas safety Michael Taaffe said “NIL has been good. They thought at first that NIL was going to be ‘The rich got richer.’ The LSUs, the Texases, the Alabamas, the Georgias. But we just saw Indiana go win a national championship and go 16 -0, something that’s never been done before.”
The transfer portal is a bit more nuanced because it can sometimes be tied to NIL.
“I think that people cut their nose off to spite their face, as my mother would say, trying to chase a bag instead of developing as a player,” said Clemson running back Adam Randall, whose coach, Dabo Swinney, is known for his dislike of the transfer portal.
But I found little or no animosity from players toward the transfer portal. Some, such as Randall, said they’d never transfer. For the most part, however, Senior Bowl players I talked to aren’t mad at guys who leave even if it’s strictly for more money.
“If a guy that’s from Texas goes to LSU, he just did it because that’s where he wanted to play through recruitment,” Taaffe said. “And then (if) some other team offers him double the amount of money, I don’t blame the guy. So obviously, I did it differently, but I don’t blame him either.”
That, too, represents a subtle change.
I spoke to players at the Senior Bowl in 2024. When I asked Indianapolis Colts edge rusher Laiatu Latu, a 2024 first-round pick from UCLA, what he thought about NIL he remarked, “In my opinion, I feel like it’s ruined college football.”
I didn’t hear that sentiment this past week.
I spoke to Miami Dolphins rookies a few weeks ago. Safety Dante Trader Jr., a 2025 fifth-round pick from Maryland, said he thought NIL “could ruin cultures. It can make people not loyal, like you’re a one-year contractor.”
I didn’t hear that this past week, either.
What I heard was more in line with University of Miami Hurricanes center James Brockermeyer, a prime example of both topics, NIL and the transfer portal.
Brockermeyer, whose father, Blake, an offensive tackle, was a 1995 first-round pick by the Carolina Panthers, has transferred twice, from Alabama to TCU, and from TCU to Miami. The latter transfer was reportedly because Miami offered much more than TCU in NIL money.
Brockermeyer didn’t comment on that specifically.
However, as you might guess, he favors NIL.
“But yeah, it is a very chaotic environment, I would say, and it does present certain issues, I could say,” he said.
Brockermeyer added that people shouldn’t be quick to judge a player because he’s utilized the transfer portal.
“I think every player has different circumstances that can cause someone to transfer or whatnot,” Brockermeyer said. “Obviously, I’ve been a guy who’s transferred twice, and it’s been different situations, I guess you could say, both times.
“I think people have different reasons for transferring. I think it’s important to not try to dissect what someone could be going through. There’s all sorts of different reasons someone could be transferring. So I’m not going to say it’s a bad situation or anything like that. I think it just depends on the situation you’re in.”
For you pessimists out there, yes, loyalty still exists in college football. TCU tight end D.J. Rogers, one of Brockermeyer’s former teammates, is an example.
“I could have transferred out, went to a bigger school, got paid a lot more money,” Rogers said. “But at the end of the day, that’s temporary, that’s short term. I’m trying to build long-term relationships, connections, and in the city of Fort Worth (where TCU is located) there’s plenty of connections and networking to be done out there.”
It should be noted that most players at the Senior Bowl want a salary cap of sorts on NIL money for incoming freshmen, an opinion expressed to me in 2024 and a few weeks ago.
Senior Bowl players agree that unproven freshmen shouldn’t earn more than proven veterans.
But all incoming freshmen shouldn’t earn the same amount. Again, there’s nuance.
“I don’t think that there should be a regulation on all freshmen coming in,” Randall said. “When you have a five-star quarterback that has won three state championships like (Clemson quarterback) Cade Klubnik coming in, he shouldn’t make the same amount of money as a two-star quarterback that is coming from a local high school. I think that play should be rewarded.”
Interestingly, Senior Bowl players said NIL money doesn’t cause problems in most cases.
“I think where a lot of people get in trouble is disclosing how much money they make and that’s what causes a lot of bad blood on the team,” Rogers said. “At TCU we don’t really talk about that.”
Things were handled differently at Texas Tech, a College Football Playoff school that boldly takes advantage of both the transfer portal and NIL money.
“Some guys knew what some guys made, some didn’t know what other guys made,” Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said. “It really didn’t matter to us. It never caused a problem. It was more like we’re just happy to be here, happy that we have a chance to go win something together, happy that we’re all on the same team. People didn’t really care how much somebody else paid, it was just more about the football.”
Times, it seems, are changing.