At a meeting of local business leaders in Birmingham, Alabama head coach Nick Saban addressed the impact of name, inage and likness rights on recruiting, and in the process claimed that Texas A&M “bought every player on their team.”
“I mean, we were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team — made a deal for name, image, likeness.”
Saban continued to question the long-term viability of the NIL model. “That’s not what it was supposed to be. That’s what it’s become. And that’s the problem in college athletics right now. Now every player is saying, ‘Well, what am I going to get?”
Texas A&M was not the only team that the Alabama coach mentioned. He also addressed Jackson State. “Hell, read about it in the paper. I mean, Jackson State paid a guy $1 million last year that was a really good Division I player to come to the school. It was in the paper, and they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it.”
The player in question is Travis Hunter, a five-star recruit who flipped to Jackson State from Florida State. Jackson State coach Deion Sanders addressed those comments on social media:
You best believe I will address that LIE Coach SABAN told tomorrow. I was & awakened by my son @ShedeurSanders that sent me the article stating that WE PAYED @TravisHunterJr a Million to play at @GoJSUTigersFB ! We as a PEOPLE don’t have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE.
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) May 19, 2022
Might make filming the next AFLAC commercial a little awkward:
Saban's still mad the Aflac duck didn't commit to Bama. https://t.co/Fkp2VBzmWQ pic.twitter.com/4Vfe6xvhhP
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) May 19, 2022