I believe that COVID killed college football. Let me explain.
I grew up in a time before NIL (Pre-2021). Of course, we all believed that these athletes should be compensated for their work; a billion-dollar industry was built on their hard work. I never did imagine that this would turn recruitment into a bidding war and the transfer portal into a business decision. Eighteen-year-olds are becoming the breadwinners for their families, and twenty-five-year-olds are filing lawsuits to continue playing. But how did we get here?
With no limits on the number of transfers, we have athletes like Rashad Amos attending four different colleges. I remember being a student at The University of Alabama when Isaiah Bond transferred to Texas and boasted a new Lamborghini on his Snapchat story. No wonder, after Nick Saban retired, we also officially witnessed the end of the last college football dynasty.
With the rules in place now, players will not be willing to “wait their turn.” No longer will we have stories of coaches and players who became like family. This is unfortunate because the culture of the fanbases has remained the same. Good old fashioned hate is still very much alive, and the viewers want to see the same kind of grit and resilience that made them fall in love with college football in the first place.
I always preferred college ball over the NFL because I loved watching people who had something to prove. I loved hearing stories about guys being able to sign to their dream school and lead them to a national championship. THAT is why people love sports. But that has become so lost in the past few years.
Can you blame the athletes, though? I also would much rather retire myself and my entire family at 25 than 35. Additionally, I would also not mind missing out on an NFL career that might cause further damage to my body. But then you see players like Trinidad Chambliss begging for a sixth year of eligibility, and you really have to ask yourself, when is enough enough?
On the bright side, I don’t foresee this becoming a forever kind of trend. NIL is still in its early years, and I believe with more restrictions such as salary caps, stricter eligibility rules, and harsher regulations when it comes to the transfer portal, while college football, as most of us know it, is dead, I believe there could still be hope.