Report: 2023 college football recruit signs multi-million dollar NIL deal

Thanks to name, image and likeness policies, the world of recruiting in college athletics will never be the same. A recent report regarding a 5-star college football prospect in the 2023 class is a pretty strong indicator of that.

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic reported this week that a member of the 2023 recruiting class has already signed a multi-million dollar deal with a school’s NIL collective. At this time, the recruit’s name was not mentioned.

According to the report, the future college athlete could earn as much as $8 million through his junior year of college. He will receive $350,000 immediately.

Because the NCAA didn’t have much of a plan to address the dos and don’ts of NIL, there really are no boundaries on what is considered legal and what is not. While the organization probably doesn’t want to see these opportunities impact recruiting in this kind of manner, it’s going to be awfully difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Last summer marked the first time student-athletes were able to profit from their name, image and likeness. It hasn’t taken long for this new rule to impact the world of college sports.

It’s going to be interesting to see how many more deals like this arise over the coming months and years.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB