MOBILE, Ala. — When college football coaches get together nowadays, the issues of the transfer portal and Name Image and Likeness dominate the conversations.
It was no different at the Senior Bowl on Tuesday night.
Alabama’s Nick Saban, Penn State’s James Franklin, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian and Auburn’s Bryan Harsin all spoke at the Senior Bowl Summit at Saenger Theatre in an event hosted by Kirk Herbstreit, and all four took turns giving their takes on the two issues that are reshaping college football.
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Saban said “players should have freedom of movement,” but he spoke against the culture of the transfer portal being an easy out for players who do not like facing adversity.
“We had a lot of young players who were disappointed in their circumstance,” Saban said, alluding to a lack of meaningful playing time. “Sometimes they don’t practice as hard or prepare as hard and then they are not ready for their opportunity. We had young players play in the national championship game, and not one of them could take advantage of their opportunity.”
Saban also said some of NIL is good for the players, but he doesn’t like the trend of recruiting becoming a bidding war for players.
“When we start using name, image and likeness for a kid to come to our school, that’s where I draw the line,” he said. “I hear these crazy people on TV saying we are now doing (paying players) above board. We never did it. We never did it. We never cheated to get a player. We never paid players to come to our school. And now that’s actually happening. People are making deals with high school players to go to their school.”
One consequence of that, Saban said, is that now donors are using their money for individual players and not donating to the athletic department, costing athletes in other sports opportunities to compete.
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Sarkisian said players are getting enticed by NIL opportunities in recruiting and there is certainly tampering going in what he called the new world of college football “free agency.”
“We can all agree that we have players that are getting recruited who aren’t even in the portal,” Sarkisian said.
Franklin agreed.
“There are too many examples of a kid that is in the portal for one hour and then he’s committed,” he said. “We have to embrace this new situation, but I’m concerned for the future of college football.”
The night was more than just lamenting the new wave of change that is washing over the sport. Franklin and Sarkisian were asked which recruited player that got away stung the most in their career, and neither had to hesitate.
Franklin said it was Justin Fields, the Bears quarterback who was committed to Franklin for months before flipping to Georgia and then eventually transferring to Ohio State. Sarkisian said quarterback Cody Kessler was solid to Washington before Lane Kiffin stole him for USC.
As for their top wins as a coach, Franklin relived Penn State’s victory over Wisconsin that gave it the Big Ten championship in 2016, while Sarkisian said beating Pete Carroll and No. 2 USC in just his third game at Washington was his top memory.
“When my mentor came into the locker room after the game to congratulate me, that was something I will never forget,” Sarkisian said.
