In the recent past, coaches have started seeing NIL as a big issue. After all, no coach would appreciate a player who prioritizes income over performance. Once Nick Saban also pointed out how A&M has “bought every player” on their team, shows how dire the whole situation has become. Arguments float around all the time about NIL cannibalizing the athletic programs, making programs short of money to hand over to the student-athletes. Speaking of Colorado, Deion’s son, Shedeur Sanders has the highest NIL valuation himself. Still, Deion is not really in favor of the whole idea behind NIL.

The dislike around NIL has grown in the recent past, with coaches coming up openly and speaking about how they do not prefer players who are just there for the money. Well, Deion Sanders and Dane Lanning share a similar take on NIL Deals, despite their well-known rivalry.

Everyone wants to have loyal players

On July 29th with the release of a new episode of The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football podcast, came another angle of Oregon how it attacks the players that want to make a change. When Joel asked Dane Lanning, the coach for the University of Oregon, “How important is the support that you get here from an NIL perspective, in particular, in order to do what you just said, which is retain your best players?”. This was an important question raised as walking away from big players is one of the biggest problems any roaster faces. Replying to which Lanning said very systematically how he has all of it set, “One, you got to have players that want to be here” and the second gameplay that he has is, “and then two, you have to make sure that they’re taken care of and they’re able to create opportunities for themselves”. This shows how clear Lanning is when it comes to the kind of players that he needs in his team.

Even Deion Sanders has the same approach of holding on to his best players available and not wanting them to leave. His strategy is not to attract players who are there to make money out of NIL deals but are interested in players who are there to make an actual change. During an interview in April, the world heard him saying, “I attract the type of player that wants to be great, that understands he has a window of opportunity and he has to commit to excellence.” Well then the mantra seems to be focused on the work, the bag will follow you if you keep doing that! With the thought process going around Oregon Ducks and Colorado, what are the stats saying about Oregon recruitment this year?

Lanning defends Oregon against NIL accusations

Oregon Ducks, under the guidance of Dane Lanning, has a powerful team coming upfront. The team has players like four-star player Elijah Rushing who is the nation’s No. 35 prospect and No. 6 edge rusher. With that Oregon has four-star wide receiver Dillon Gresham, who committed to the Ducks last year in May. Is it because of the money that Oregon has? Well, Lanning does not believe so. During an interview, Lanning said, “Do we have a lot more than everybody else? I think that’d be an exaggeration or we’d never lose.” The fact that he agrees that money plays a great role is enough evidence of how football is just changing its direction from pure athleticism to something that has to do with money. However, it is not ‘just’ limited to that.

Even J.D. Pickell was seen addressing the take on how Oregon’s success in the recruiting battle is merely limited to the money that Phil Knight and Nike provide through “unlimited NIL” agreements. Well, the claim is just too big. It disregards the hard work that Coach Dan Planning and his assistants have put into the players and the whole team. As with all the money that they have got, they could have got anyone that they wanted, but that is not the game here. With all the accusations going around, the Ducks and NIL let us see how far they go this season, ignoring all of it.