College football is massively popular here in the United States. 

Other countries wonder why Americans are so fascinated with teenagers playing a sport that more experienced professionals play at a higher level. 

The general answer to that question is that there is more of a drive with these players as they are playing for their future and the professionals are just playing for contracts. 

Ever since NCAA players earned money through their name image likeness or NIL it has become a heated topic. Many believe it has ruined college football and college culture. 

This is due to players also being able to transfer from school to school and not have to sit out. I do agree with the part of the argument that these players should get paid. 

The amount of money top athletes make for their respective universities is pretty huge. For example, according to NBC 4 in Ohio, Ohio State, one of the most prestigious football schools in the country made over $64 million just from ticket sales in the 2023 football season. 

Players like Ohio State football wide receiver Jeremiah Smith drive in fans and deserve to make some money. Thanks to NIL, Smith reportedly makes $4 million as just a freshman in college. However, I believe that the system needs to be regulated more. 

The culture has become less about school pride and has become all about “bag chasing.” Before 2021 and NIL and the new transfer portal rules, a player transferring in any sport had to have a “Redshirt year” if they transferred to a new school. This Redshirt year meant they could barely play or not play at all, depending on the sport. 

In July of 2021, with the introduction of NIL and new transfer portal rules, players could transfer without penalty. Tomiwa Durojaiye, who recently transferred to the University of Illinois to play football, is a Redshirt sophomore and has transferred two times in his career. He is not alone in this new trend. Tyler Sough, a graduate who played at Louisville last year, had transferred two other times. He started his career in Oregon and then transferred to Texas Tech and then to his final destination, Louisville. While the NIL and transfer era have brought us an expanded 12-team playoff and other much-needed changes, there needs to be an era of reform to some of these new rules. Bryce Underwood, who is an incoming freshman, was originally committed to LSU last year. However, he committed and will reportedly earn $10 million to play at the University of Michigan. In my opinion, this is just not right because it turns high school recruiting into who can be the highest bidder which is, in my opinion, not how college sports should operate.

With the way NIL is used, it seems like the rich are just getting richer. 

This is because a school like Bowling Green in the MAC conference simply cannot keep up financially with Ohio State in the Big Ten. In 2022, Dillon Gabriel started his College career at the University of Central Florida and played in the American Athletic Conference. He transferred to Oklahoma, who played in the Big 12 at the time. He was a standout at UCF and instantly an Oklahoma star player. He simply became too big for UCF, and they could not afford to keep him. He then ended his career at the University of Oregon after transferring for his senior season. Over his years in college, it is estimated he made over $5 million in NIL money.

What needs to happen is there needs to be some sort of salary cap and a penalty for going over it. The penalty for going over the salary cap should be similar to what the penalty was for recruiting violations before the NIL era. 

Penalties for going over the Salary Cap could be losing scholarships, or in extreme cases, a postseason ban. While it won’t just give money to the smaller FBS schools, it can help potentially even the playing field and prevent as many transfers as there are in today’s game. 

For the people who enjoy college football, this topic is very important to the health of the game. These players need to be paid and should be able to transfer, but it needs to be regulated more in order for college football to stay healthy.