With the constant changing of the college football landscape, it's extremely hard to have really any clarity regarding...well, anything.
It seems like most people — the general public — know a little bit about a lot, while those actually involved — staff and players — know exactly what is going on. What exactly are we even referring to when we say what's going on? Money.
July 1, 2021 is a day that changed the way college athletics has been and will be viewed. On that day, college athletes were able to sign endorsement deals for their Name, Image and Likeness — otherwise known as NIL.
Now, most college athletes are no longer viewed as "student athletes," but rather as basically paid employees. Not every athlete makes a comparable amount with the one next to them, but there is no denying that football is the sport that is going to bring in the biggest dollar amount.
Over two years in, this whole NIL thing has taken college athletics by storm, and Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek has openly advocated for more guardrails.
"Legislation introduced this year in California proposes a revenue-sharing model for college athletics that will result in a complete and total upheaval of the system," Yurachek wrote in an editorial for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Aug. 13. "This bill would require schools to share 50 percent of the revenue a sport generates with athletes of that sport after subtracting the cost of scholarships.
"Yet it is that very revenue that supports the non-revenue-generating sports at these schools. If you are a fan of college athletics this potential new model could place women's and Olympic college sports in serious jeopardy."
Yurachek went on to call for congressional action to help create a nationwide standard that can be applied to all schools and conferences.
"As we're seeing with the proposed legislation in California, this is wholly unsustainable for the future of college athletics as we know it," Yurachek wrote. "A revenue-sharing model that forces sports programs generating meaningful revenue to share nearly half the revenue that the program generates with the athletes of the team would collapse the entire system. This fails to appreciate the extent to which revenue-generating sports--primarily football and men's basketball--are used to fund entire athletic programs."
Arkansas football head coach echoed some of those sentiments during his Wednesday press conference.
"I’m not fine with it at all, the way it is now," Pittman said. "If we’re going to be an NFL-type franchise, we probably ought to look at what the NFL’s is doing with their incoming with caps, incoming players. Because there’s some guys on the team, in all honesty, that came in without NIL.
"And so the NIL is certainly a big part of recruiting. And you’ve got guys on your team that started for a while and whatever. It’s just like the NFL where they had a starting left tackle, and then the rookie — a long time ago — came in and made a lot more money than he did. It’s just… It’s wild, to be honest with you right now. Something has to give in legislation."
Pittman said it's not "monopoly money" that these athletes are dealing with.
"We’re in trouble across — in my opinion — across the NCAA because it’s not Monopoly, it’s real money that’s being paid out," Pittman said. "Yes, I’d be all for somebody putting some types of restrictions on it."
Where Arkansas stands....
On3 provides projected annual NIL value for athletes at each school and the top seven Razorback athletes are all football players.
Using the overall NIL market size, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s Brand Value and Roster Value by using data points targeting three primary categories — performance, influence and exposure. Basically, if you perform well and have a lot of social media followers, you can make some good money.
Cornerback Dwight McGlothern leads the pack, with quarterback KJ Jefferson right behind and even a pair of freshmen sprinkled in.
1. Dwight McGlothern - $419,000 NIL valuation
2. KJ Jefferson - $380,000 NIL valuation
3. Josh Braun - $168,000 NIL valuation
4. Rocket Sanders - $140,000 NIL valuation
5. Jaylon Braxton - $129,000 NIL valuation
6. Hudson Clark - $113,000 NIL valuation
7. Luke Hasz - $111,000 NIL valuation
McGlothern ranks 132nd nationally and 15th at his position. Jefferson ranks 36th at the quarterback position with Louisville's Jack Plummer just ahead of him and Alabama freshman Eli Holstein below him.
These numbers aren't necessarily what any of these athletes are really making, which is what everyone wants to know. The fact of the matter is, recruiting is a whole new ballgame with NIL money flying around, and schools such as Ole Miss, Alabama, Missouri and others seem to be adapting well.
The Grove Collective was ranked the 9th-most ambitious NIL collective by On3, as it has partnered with at least 165 Ole Miss athletes and even recently added support from Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy and his Brick Watch Company. It's no coincidence that Ole Miss brought in the nation's No. 2 transfer portal class and they've had plenty of on-field success this year.
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe just surpassed an NIL valuation of over $1 million. He has deals with brands such as HEYDUDE's, Beats by Dre and Rhoback. The Crimson Tide will once again have a top-10 recruiting class in 2024.
Missouri is benefiting from a state law that allows high school athletes to begin profiting from their publicity rights the minute they sign a written agreement to enroll at a Missouri university. So, through their Every True Tiger Foundation collective and other resources, the Tigers have been dominating in football and men's basketball recruiting.
Other SEC programs checked in on the list, including Tennessee at No.1, Texas A&M at No. 2 and Texas at No. 4. It's worth noting that A&M's 12th Man+ Fund has since been discontinued.
Where does Arkansas rank among these other schools? Well, On3 has the Razorbacks at No. 8 nationally in ambitious collectives with the OneArkansas NIL collective. Arkansas' current 2024 recruiting class ranks 23rd nationally with a few commits on flip watch.
(Note: OneArkansas is separate from another primarily Razorback men's basketball focused collective called the Athlete Advocate Consortium.)
While some NIL deals feature athletes promoting specific brands, the OneArkansas collective is a third-party limited liability company aimed at assisting Arkansas student-athletes in following their passion for supporting various nonprofits throughout the Natural State.
"Assist Arkansas athletes in connecting, educating, and facilitating their charitable efforts while serving fellow Arkansans and others," the OneArkansas collective mission statement reads.
Former Razorback Marvin Caston leads the nonprofit foundation that is raising millions to support Arkansas athletics. Assistant director Sydney McGlone told On3 that the collective signed every incoming football transfer and early enrollee in January.
Most recently, OneArkansas put on an event at George's with musicians Justin Moore and Joe Nichols performing and head coaches such as Sam Pittman, Eric Musselman and Dave Van Horn in attendance.
Arkansas must be doing something right to have one of their football-heavy collectives viewed as one of the most ambitious in the nation. Although he said on Aug. 28 that his team doesn't have too big of a problem with NIL, Pittman did say that they aren't offering top dollar a few days prior.
"To be perfectly honest with you, we try to find out if they're looking for an NIL deal, if they're looking for a team," Pittman said Aug. 24. "If they're looking for just an NIL deal, a lot of times we don't have great success with those guys. But if they're looking for some NIL and things of that nature, not necessarily the highest bidder, we do real well with those guys."
On Wednesday, Pittman did make it clear that the budget his team has for NIL is not enough.
"I think everybody wants more money," Pittman said. "They want a pool of money that collectives can bring that can help your program. That can make you competitive around the country. We’re not talking specifically about that much. That’s really with the NIL department. But the money and the funds that are there, we need to grow that budget. Once we do that, we can obviously become more competitive in recruiting."
The other schools mentioned — and plenty more around the country — do a great job of advertising their NIL collectives on social media and during games. Arkansas could probably use some improvement here, as you rarely hear about OneArkansas at games, the Twitter/X page hasn't posted since Oct. 26 and the Instagram hasn't posted since Aug. 28.
Even visiting the OneArkansas webpage doesn't provide much. They have the basic mission statement-type stuff and some tabs for donating, team members and partners. But there is no mention of a single athlete name on the webpage. You would think that would be a key part of advertising this whole thing.
"I think, no doubt, that we have the resources and all that," Pittman said. "It’s hard to know everybody (in the SEC's) budget. It’s hard to know all budgets. I don’t feel, probably, that our budget is as big as a lot of the schools in the SEC.
"But it’s hard to know that because you really don’t know. You just know what other kids, where they come in recruiting of what NIL can do for them at other schools. And it’s a lot more than what you could imagine to be perfectly honest with you."
Not every NIL-related opportunity for athletes will come through a collective such as OneArkansas. But it seems like these are the groups that are helping the Ole Miss, Missouri and Alabama's of the world to recruit at a high level.
There are plenty more collectives and NIL opportunities for Arkansas football players, so it's not fair to say that all of this is OneArkansas. But Pittman made it clear that the funding isn't where it should be, and that's something that probably needs solving.
