NIL is not supposed to be used to recruit.
It is legit to use NIL deals with current players.
Thus the accusation by saban is that recruits were "paid" NIL deals which is against the rules. We all know this is very unlikely. I'm sure Jimbo will come out strong on this again.
The problem as noted before is you can state in the rules that NIL cannot be used to recruit but in practice that doesn't work. Saban knows this and it takes away advantage Bama has had for years and he doesn't like that. Recruits are not stupid. They know that ATM and others schools have deeper pockets and thus they will have greater access to larger NIL deals. Recruits will inquire as to what they can expect in terms of these deals. Heck, it is why Saban told the world his QB got a six figure NIL deal. He wants this public because it helps recruiting his next QB. The very accusation that ATM has a fund with 30 million in it to hand out NIL deals, something not espoused by ATM but by others, actually helps ATM recruiting.
I'm fairly confident we didn't break rules with NIL because it is just so easy not to. Unless recruits signed NIL deals before signing letter of intent…which would be hard to believe. All the NIL stuff is just hypothetical with any recruit. For example you can address with parents the very concept of NIL and what it is, how it works, that every player at every university in the country is eligible to benefit from it, etc. you don't even have to address numbers, so many others have done that for you (Saban and sark, rumors from reporters/insiders)
It is legit to use NIL deals with current players.
Thus the accusation by saban is that recruits were "paid" NIL deals which is against the rules. We all know this is very unlikely. I'm sure Jimbo will come out strong on this again.
The problem as noted before is you can state in the rules that NIL cannot be used to recruit but in practice that doesn't work. Saban knows this and it takes away advantage Bama has had for years and he doesn't like that. Recruits are not stupid. They know that ATM and others schools have deeper pockets and thus they will have greater access to larger NIL deals. Recruits will inquire as to what they can expect in terms of these deals. Heck, it is why Saban told the world his QB got a six figure NIL deal. He wants this public because it helps recruiting his next QB. The very accusation that ATM has a fund with 30 million in it to hand out NIL deals, something not espoused by ATM but by others, actually helps ATM recruiting.
I'm fairly confident we didn't break rules with NIL because it is just so easy not to. Unless recruits signed NIL deals before signing letter of intent…which would be hard to believe. All the NIL stuff is just hypothetical with any recruit. For example you can address with parents the very concept of NIL and what it is, how it works, that every player at every university in the country is eligible to benefit from it, etc. you don't even have to address numbers, so many others have done that for you (Saban and sark, rumors from reporters/insiders)