Kirk Herbstreit blasts state of NIL in college football, singles out Nico Iamaleava
By Keith Farner
Published:
Kirk Herbstreit has watched the developments around name, image and likeness enough to come to the conclusion that it’s not a sustainable model.
Herbstreit shared his thoughts with the Los Angeles Times in a wide-ranging interview where he referenced multiple current and potentially future SEC players. It’s rolling NIL into recruiting that rubs Herbstreit the wrong way.
“That’s not what NIL was about,” Herbstreit said. “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.’
“But I don’t like what it’s started out with the recruiting … I went to this school and got offered this, next week I’m gonna go to that school and get offered this. That is a bunch of bull—.”
One prime example for Herbstreit is Tennessee recruit Nico Iamaleava and a reported $8 million deal.
“How can an adult with a good conscience say this is awesome for the sport?” he says. “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 those guys in Knoxville gonna feel about that? How’s it gonna go over in a locker room, you know?”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
