Put yourself in this situation, you are the number one high school athlete in the nation for football, and you are committed and stated you will attend Louisiana State University (LSU), a school known for developing some of the National Football League’s (NFL) top young quarterbacks, such as Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels. With the hype and anticipation around you, you’re offered around 1.5 million dollars for every year you attend the school. But your hometown is Belleville, Michigan. With that thought, the University of Michigan, in desperate need of a superstar quarterback, offers you three million dollars to attend the Michigan Wolverines instead of LSU. Where would you go?
“I would most likely choose LSU just because of the money at such a young age,” said Ace Rey Santos (10).
Well, this was the situation for eighteen-year-old Bryce Underwood. Although it seemed like a no-brainer to attend LSU despite Michigan’s push, he shocked the world of college football on November 21, 2024, 320 days after he had committed to LSU, and decided to flip his commitment to the University of Michigan. This push was needed especially after a chaotic 2024 season that consisted of three different starting quarterbacks for the Wolverines and finishing 8-5 as a whole just a year after winning the national championship. The three quarterbacks combined had a total of 1,678 passing yards which in comparison to the rest of college football was extremely underwhelming. To put this into perspective, Michigan’s total rushing yard amount was about 400 more than their passing yards, and even by combining three different quarterbacks is total passing yards, they would still be ranked the 104th amongst all college football quarterbacks.
Fast forward to now, September 29, Michigan is currently 3-1 on the season and ranked number 20 in the nation. Through these four games Underwood has a total of 733 passing yards and 169 rushing yards, five total touchdowns, and just one interception. As of now, the future looks bright for Underwood and the Wolverines as it is only a matter of if they can continue to build off of their successes.
But, what even is NIL? NIL is defined as name, image, and likeness, which allows collegiate athletes to earn money from schools and endorsement deals from brands. From a brand perspective, they hope to gather the most popular athletes who can promote products and services of a brand or company to a larger audience on social media. Schools are able to raise money from third party organizations such as alumni, donors, brand partnerships, and merchandise sales. Accumulating and putting this into perspective, the world of collegiate sports has forever changed due to NIL funding. Here are some more examples of how NIL has impacted colleges and athletes.
Nico Iamaleava was a highly touted and well respected prospect in the class of 2023. He was ranked the number two best quarterbacks in the nation and committed to the University of the Tennessee Volunteers where he would become the starter as a redshirt freshman. There he would lead the Volunteers to a 10-2 record, which granted them a spot in the college football 12 team playoffs. Despite the great season, Tennessee was not able to take down the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the playoffs, ending the Volunteers Championship hopes. But even after a season where the Volunteers were receiving praise and predicted to be a team to watch out for the following season, the issues came off the field. But in April 2025, reports released that Iamaleava and his representatives wanted about four million dollars for the upcoming season to remain at Tennessee. Even with how well of a season and the high note the team left on with Nico, they were not willing to pay his new asking price.
Following this, Nico entered the transfer portal, with a “no contact tag” which allowed him to choose which schools could contact him. But here, he would struggle to find a top program that would pay him his asking price. With this, just four days after entering the portal, he would commit to the UCLA Bruins, a prestigious BIG Ten school. The twist was, Nico did not get the money he had first hoped for when entering the portal, it was later revealed Nico would only be getting paid 1.2 million compared to his asking price of 4 million dollars per year.
This commitment left a question for another young man, Joey Aguilar. Aguilar had been committed to UCLA since December of 2024 after a wonderful previous season at Appalachian State. Understanding he would no longer have a chance to be the starter, he would enter the portal himself. In a shocking turn of events, he would take Nico’s once starting job at his previous school and commit to Tennessee. Making this the first “trade” using the transfer portal.
With college students getting money to play at a school, will this change loyalty within college sports forever?
