Other programs have been out to kill off the walk-on program that Nebraska has used so well over the years, looks like they’re about to succeed.
And here’s a response, more or less, by Nebraska:
I expect this will be resolved. It will lead to a lawsuit against the NCAA. Nebraska and other schools rely on walkons they can develop. Programs like Nebraska are development programs because they can’t recruit the superstars.
BTW I can’t read the article it’s behind a paywall
The NCAA is gonna need more lawyers, that’s for sure.
I’m never sure where the paywall limits are, as they change. There was a time when LJS let people read 10 articles a month, but most paywalls have gotten stricter over time. At least they’re still allowing people to view a few sentences from an article, though probably not the lede.
Short version of the article: Ruhle says that Nebraska will just have to wait and see what the actual numbers are and then figure out what, if anything, they can do about it.
I’m not sure that recruiting the superstars is the problem, paying them is. There’s a reason the Yankees have won more world series titles than any other franchise, they’ve had the money to buy the best players, all the way back to Ruth if not earlier.
I have never figured the walk on program was that big of deal. It has worked out well at times. I just felt that if the Husker program had to rely on walk ons over time it would burn out.
John Papenhagen
Firm roster limits will affect many top programs, because most programs find ways to have more players on the roster than the scholarship limits allow. We call them walk-ons, in the SEC they call them greyshirts, etc.
Whether a roster limit is enforceable or what exceptions are allowed is likely to be the subject of further discussions and possibly more litigation.
Rhule gave the example of an injured player, suggesting that some teams may ‘encourage’ injured players to transfer, to leave the program or drop out of school completely if they have to be counted in the roster limit.
The impact of in-season injuries may also be magnified by hard limits.
I keep thinking of Joe Montana’s statement that when he showed up in South Bend he was 14th on the QB depth chart at first, but that was in the days before scholarship limits.
Way back in the Nebraska could give 45 scholarships per year an have unlimited total roster size. That contributed to why Nebraska was national champion in 70 and 71.
The problem that the NCAA is trying to fix is programs are getting around the 85 scholarship limit by using NIL funds.
But limiting total roster size hurts schools that rely on development rather than recruiting players that are already developed. You can develop a player if you have a willing candidate and time. But that requires a bigger roster.
I 100% agree. But how do you stop a team from buying another 50 non-scholarship players by throwing a lot of NIL $ to them ?
FWIW, NU has at least 1 NIL funded player, I expect you will see this more.
It really sucks for the guys who just want the opportunity to play at a school.
Andy
How are you defining ‘NIL funded’? If the reports I’ve seen are accurate, there are dozens of Nebraska players making $10K or more under NIL deals in football alone, and many players in other sports as well.
I suspect players and their agents have a whole lot better idea of the NIL payouts than the general public does, and IMHO that’s one of the biggest problem. All that information should be REQUIRED to be made public.
Not that I expect Congress to do one bloody thing for college sports, much less the NCAA specifically, but if they mandated public disclosure of NIL contracts, that’d be the most productive thing Congress has done in decades.
Instead, you’re going to hear a steady whine of complaints, especially from teams in the southeast quadrant of the US (more than one conference) about the hard limits when that number finally comes out.
Likewise, when direct pay from the athletic department to athletes happens (possibly as early as 2025), all those numbers should be public as well. Public schools like Nebraska will likely have to publish those numbers anyway, giving private schools an edge.
I mean players who are not on the 85 scholarship list but have all of their school paid for though NIL money
Nebraska has a number of players with NIL deals and no scholarship. He never took an official visit. Thus he could be a walkon and get NIL dollars.
I also think there are 5th/6th year seniors who don’t have scholarships but they do have NIL. So technically they are walkons.
There are lots of ways to get around the 85 scholarship issue.
But limiting total roster size does inhibit stockpiling athletes. But, it hurts the programs that use development to create contributing players instead of recruiting them.
There is an offensive tackle that is a walkon who never t
In a message dated 7/26/2024 12:07:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, listmgr@lists.tssi.com writes:
There will probably be fewer ways to get around the new limits, not that schools won’t try anyway.
There have been multiple attempts over the years to force Nebraska to cut back its walk-on program, both among our former Big Twelve brethren and among our current Big Ten brethren, plus schools in the southeastern US who tend to vote en bloc at NCAA meetings and (it seems) in Playoff meetings.
Whether the new rules, whatever they turn out to be, achieve the purported purpose of leveling the playing field any remains to be seen, but I personally hope to enjoy watching those southeastern schools squirm a bit under roster limits, as Dabo did this week.
ESPN story on the NCAA settlement, talks about roster limits but apparently those aren’t final yet.
Reading through that makes my hair hurt
Yeah, I know what you mean, I can’t decide if it sounds worse than it really is or sounds better than it really is. Guess we’ll have to wait until the rest of the details come out.
I’m wondering when all this takes effect. Presumably not until the 2025-26 academic year, but I don’t see that specified anywhere.
ESPN analysis of the details of the settlement.
“Not that I expect Congress to do one bloody thing for college sports, much less the NCAA specifically, but if they mandated public disclosure of NIL contracts, that’d be the most productive thing Congress has done in decades.”
Well, given that becoming university employees, and by extension, State of Nebraska employees is (IMHO) inevitable, this will happen. Public employees don’t get to take kickbacks from private citizens for doing their jobs. NIL is doomed. It is, and always has been, way too close to a money laundering scheme.
The ESPN article suggests that some of the language will help deal with those questionable NIL deals. And I believe in the Easter Bunny, too.
The only thing that’s going to change it is the IRS and state and federal justice departments.