This Week Gave College Football Fans Peek Behind NIL, Portal Curtain

Dynamics faced by coaches like Arkansas' Sam Pittman, others, becoming more clear

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian and Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman interact prior to the game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — This week, the mysterious curtain behind which all things NIL and the college football transfer portal hide got pulled back ever so slightly for typical fans of the sport.

It began with Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell, no relation to former Central Arkansas Bears football star and current Florida State head coach Mike Norvell. He provided a solid glimpse into the shady world of poorly regulated agents who create nightmare scenarios for coaches like Norvell and Arkansas coach Sam Pittman while many take advantage of young athletes and their families.

"These independent agents call these schools up that they know have money, and they say, 'You know what, if Kevin gets in the portal, how much would you pay him?" Norvell said. "'Oh, I'll pay him $150,000,' and they'll go to the next school. 'What if Kevin got in the portal? What would you pay him?' 'Oh, I'd give him 175,' and then another school might say, 'Oh, I'll give them 200,' so now this independent agent DMs Kevin and says, 'Call me. I got some deals for you.' And then they talk, and he goes, 'If you get in the portal, I can get you $200,000 okay? And it's hard for a kid, you know, when he hears that."

Whether it's tampering is largely undecided. Technically, there's no direct contact between schools and players signed to other teams and coaches aren't initiating the contact, but the NCAA has little ability to enforce anything if it is, so it continues without restraint

However, it goes beyond affecting the following season's roster. According to Pittman, agents are now convincing players to do all they can to swindle a red-shirt year out of their current team to increase their values with the next school.

"I had a lot of guys' agents, I don't think it was other coaches as much as I think it's agents and things, getting in each kid's ears and going 'OK, if you don't play I can get you X amount of dollars, and if you do, and you only have one year left, I can get you a lower amount of money,' so I think there's a lot of that going on," Pittman said.

It's an issue many suspected when Arkansas offensive lineman Patrick Kutas, who was discussed publicly during the season asking to red-shirt with an implied agreement to come back, became one of the first to bolt for the portal and had crystal balls for Ole Miss many days before the portal opened and formal contact could begin. There were also questions around defensive back Jaylen Braxton and his injury that often left Pittman saying he thought the former freshman All-American was on his way back only to never return after just two games.

Even players who weren't considering entering the portal often find themselves having to entertain the thought while under heavy pressure by agents who have much to gain if they can just convince a player to hop in despite the circumstances.

"So these kids are not thinking about getting in the portal, but when they have these people call them and say, 'If you get in the portal, I'll give you $200,000, you know, and by the way, I'm going to take 15-20% of that," Norvell said. "And so these guys are just stealing from these kids. An NFLPA agent gets 3%. A lot of these agents that are talking to all of our players, they're taking 10, 15, 20% and that's really criminal. Really. But that's what's going on in college football."

A big reason why so many questionable practices go on is because, unlike pretty much any other job from forklift driver to teacher to backline cook at McDonald's, there is no training or certification requirement. In most states, all it takes is a small fee, and in some cases, the requirement Cousin Stevie or Terrance from up the street needs to meet to be an agent is a player willing to say it's so.

"There's no certification requirement, there's no continuing education requirement, there's no minimum education requirement to get it," Chris Turnage, a 15-year certified NFLPA agent who also does NIL contracts told 103.7 The Buzz in Little Rock Thursday evening. "And so oftentimes you have friends, family members in my business, they're just saying, there's always an uncle. We've got an uncle that comes out and literally, you know, a lot of them we've seen don't have any clue what they're doing. They're they're agreeing to bad contracts there. Some of them are absolutely encouraging kids to leave for an extra $10,000 because there's $10,000 more out there. So it, it is crazy."

This constant effort of trying to churn up offers and game the system has changed how coaches now approach the portal. For Pittman, if a top player mentioned he was considering leaving Arkansas, but didn't want to go because he loves being a Razorback, the staff would do all it could to match that amount of money.

It often stressed what was then very limited funds, but avoided the fallout of fans losing their minds over a top player heading elsewhere and closed the door permanently on those who did. Now Arkansas has predetermined values for players and if other offers exceed that valuation, he is thanked for his service and the search for a replacement begins while leaving the door open for a return.

"We've got to make all those decisions on whether the financial asking price is what we determine the value of the player is, and if it is, then we try to keep them here," Pittman said. "If it's not, then obviously, we wish them well. If it's strictly about the financial piece, we know at that point we'd be out of it."

Pittman went on to say that some players were being told they were getting substantially more than the Hogs had certain players valued at, but, so long as they followed proper team protocol by meeting with the coaches first before entering the portal, consideration would be given toward returning should numbers being reported by agents not align with what other schools are actually offering.

"There's probably less [available money in college football] than what the players think," Turnage said. "Every player thinks they’re going to get $200,000 and $300,000, or $400,000 and obviously that's not the case for everybody. So, I think there's, there's a lot of money out there, but I think there's less than what the majority of players think or think they should get."

Hiring random guys off the streets to be agents appears to be becoming even more risky as college football programs move to more of an NFL model. With Stanford being among the first to hire a general manager in former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck, North Carolina making a splash with the hiring of former New England Patriots coach and defacto GM Bill Belichick and college programs turning to people who have written NFL contracts to assist them in the new revenue sharing era, legitimate knowledge of contract negotiations and what can end up in them is a necessity.

"So the the director of ops for the [Philadelphia] Eagles left the Eagles and started his own company, and he's doing consulting with colleges," Turnage said. "And so Oklahoma was the first to hire him and their contract looks very similar to an NFL contract. Is about 20 pages long, and they have a lot of terms."

One positive for Arkansas fans is how agent friendly the local collective has been. The Hogs have a strong reputation among those negotiating NIL deals, which isn't the case for all SEC schools.

"[The] Arkansas Collective is a very fair contract," Turnage said. "I mean, there is some language that we negotiate and, you know, go back and forth with, but it's very, very fair compared to some of these others. I think, you know, they're doing a good job in that regard. And it's, it's a, usually a 12-month deal. And Arkansas does have some, usually has some incentive to try to stay, like some of these others. Maybe not as big as some of these others, but do have some incentive. And Tennessee is, is the worst. I might have mentioned that their collective is the worst to deal with the language. They're very, yeah, they're very onerous, and they don't like to change many things. And so yeah, they were, they've been a nightmare to deal with."

One thing fans have complained about is why schools like Arkansas aren't writing contracts that dissuade top players from bailing before the bowl games. According to Turnage, most NIL contracts do exactly that. It's just often not enough to balance out how much more will be gained elsewhere.

"So this is the way the school says, 'Hey, this is one way that we're going to try to incentivize players to stay and not not leave, you know, either before the bowl game or not enter the portal at all,'" Turnage said. "Theoretically, these aren't the numbers that I just dealt with, but just give you an example. Theoretically, let's say it's $120,000 and the player's getting $10,000 a month. A lot of times, what you might see a school do is, okay, they're actually going to do $7,500 a month, and then they'll have that one big payment that's December 31 as a way to encourage them to stay."

One other complaint fans have had is not knowing for sure how much players are getting paid. While collectives have been protected from Freedom of Information requests because the money isn't technically being given directly by a government funded institution, revenue sharing changes the game.

That money will be directly from Arkansas an its fellow public schools, which opens it up to the same transparancy as government contracts. It's something Turnage expects to happen even though there will be litigation to fight it at first.

"Now there, there are, I know, of schools who are already trying to prevent that very thing and trying to use a few loopholes," Turnage said. "So I don't know if that'll be successful or not, but I believe it will be open to that."

If so, that will be one more piece of the transfer portal mystery and pay to play college athletes peeled back for all to see. For now, fans will have to settle for one tiny glimpse trickling out in a painfully slow manner.

HOGS FEED:

• Calipari will soon know where Hogs stand in loaded SEC

• Yurachek, Pittman hold discussions on general manager for Razorbacks

• Kudos to 'crazy' coach Calipari for honest accountability

• Razorbacks make scholarship offer to Texas defensive back

• Is Pittman strategy smart or gamble? | Locked on Razorbacks

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