An epidemic has infested discourse in society at large, and the CFB sphere hasn’t been immune either. Social media has only fanned the flames of it. It’s the fallacious and dangerously widespread notion that every monetary figure on the internet is true. One even more dangerous branch that stems from this is how some people take advantage of vulnerable and malleable fans to promote their own agendas. This is transpiring right as we speak. The likes of Quinn Ewers, Carson Beck, and Jeremiah Smith are caught in the midst of a web of lies.

Like any new caveat that gets thrown into an existing thing, NIL’s introduction into the sport left people confused. Every intricate wrinkle of this concept is a challenge to keep up with. As a result, even the most ardent of fans are just “going with the flow” when it comes to this facet. At the same time, this is the era of overselling and click-bait. Confusion and clickbait don’t mesh well together. Especially when it involves money. As a result, people are falling victim to a range of falsified stuff around NIL circulating on social media and similar channels. 

If you’ve seen a player’s NIL valuation and thought to yourself, ‘That cannot be real!’ chances are it’s not. A few star players have been caught in the midst of this. When Carson Beck sensationally walked back on his NFL declaration to join Miami, one of the main reasons was fairly transparent. Beck was offered a lot of NIL money, alongside an opportunity to hone his skills. The thing is, schools and collectives aren’t permitted to disclose the official numbers. Therefore, people use the hype around such a revelation to ‘farm engagement’ on social media. How? Spew numbers that aren’t based on evidence but are close enough to where your audience will believe it. One analyst has reached their tipping point and gone into a rant about this. This rant also serves as a warning for the fans.

CBS Sports’ Danny Kannell posted a video on what can be construed as the epicenter of false information in 2025, X (formerly Twitter). He spoke about players whose NIL values are much different than what’s circulating. More resoundingly, he weighed in on the reason why these players are often coming from the camps of these players themselves. “I’ve got to get something off my chest. Because I’m starting to get really irritated by some of these numbers that are out there on the NIL market, that are being ‘reported’.” said Kannel with an emphasis on “reported”, implying he’s being sarcastic. “I use air quotes on purpose because there is no validity to these reports.” He then dived into who and why.

“It’s just agents floating these numbers to try to drive the market up,” remarked Kanell. Not exactly a eureka moment, but something most people didn’t consider. Kanell proceeded to say “The latest number, Jeremiah Smith. Offered $4.5 million to leave Ohio State. We saw Quinn [Ewers]. He was supposedly offered $4 million in the regular season. Then it was $6 million after the bowl game. Those are ridiculous. They’re not true. Carson Beck’s reported numbers that he got to go to Miami. Not true. I can confirm those. Everyone’s having a field day out.” It’s apparent why accounts on X and IG propagate this info. But why do agents plant the seed in the first place? That’s where this transpires, from harmless chatter amongst fans to some very massive repercussions.

The term “agent” has very different meanings across the two rungs of the football ladder

Even before the advent of NIL, College Football wasn’t exactly a smooth operation. It’s becoming closer to pro-sport as time passes, but its laws and legislature are still strictly amateur. Loopholes are commonplace, and agents are not averse to using them to their benefit. In fact, even the term “agent” is a bit of a hoax in itself when it comes to CFB.

In the NFL, for instance,  agents are required to have certain qualifications. There is a barrier to entry, and not everyone can become an agent to represent a player. In CFB, there is no such barrier. People can onboard athletes with no problem and potentially abuse their power. This is hypothetical, but say a localite scouts Carson Beck when they’re a kid. Seeing a future in him, they sign a contract with Beck on very lopsided terms. If Carson Beck then grows up to become a star like he did, this contract can be exploitative. Danny Kannell himself mentioned how some agents are taking as much as 20% of the earnings their clients make. Some terms are even more exploitative than that. So, what’s the solution to this entire ordeal?

It sounds cliche but check your sources. Those Quinn Ewers and Carson Beck figures always seemed too good to be true. Make sure not to believe everything you see. Misinformation can spread like wildfire, and provocative stuff, such as a teenager making $4.5 million, is almost always going to. When the Jeremiah Smith rumors broke out, they reached a level where Bill Belichick had to step in. The UNC head coach said, “There’s a lot of money, promises, and opportunity being discussed. Everybody’s in on it,” Belichick drew comparisons to the NFL, where this has occurred for years. He even hinted at some “legal tampering” pertaining to Smith.

Alas, introducing a ‘salary’ type system to CFB was bound to have its ugly byproducts. The legislature just isn’t ready to contend with this right now. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, the impending House Settlement can act as an antidote to this epidemic.