How College NIL Is Simply ’Free Agency Without Rules’

Razorbacks' tight ends coach Dowell Loggains has dealt with both and has good view

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At least the NFL has some guidelines for name, image and likeness.

Arkansas tight ends coach Dowell Loggains has dealt with it before. They just called free agency in the NFL where he was for 17 years.

In college they call it the transfer portal.

"It's free agency without rules," Loggains said after Sunday's practice. "and there's no salary cap."

Razorbacks tight ends coach Dowell Loggains at practice Sunday afternoon on the outdoor practice fields at the football center in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

Welcome to the fun of college athletics these days. Nobody can seem to figure out the combination of an uncapping method for players to get paid could get pretty wild with no rules.

It's the wild, wild west these days.

"In the NFL it opens up one day and you geared up all this time," Loggains said. "You knew this guy's contract was running out, his contract is running out and you could have a game plan.

"Then it shuts down at a certain point."

Not in college. It's going to be interesting to see exactly who can take control of the whole mess college sports has become trying to model itself after pro sports, particularly in football.

The NFL seems to be the ultimate goal because that's where the most television viewers are and the pathway to the biggest paydays for those that actually run it.

"It's different," Loggains said about the NFL. "You're working guys out and you have a cap. In the NFL you can cut a player and find a player. From picking the right players you also have that in your back pocket."

At the college level, player evaluations never stop. That includes looking at the players on other teams.

"That never stops," Loggains said. "We have people that's all they do all day is look at the transfer portal. Just keep hitting refresh on their computer and keep looking and looking.

"It's a little bit like free agency without rules."

That also is why there's a small army of people working over at the football center that spend entire days looking at film of football players at every level. They want to at least know if somebody that hits the portal can play for them.

"It's like, 'hey let's evaluate this guy' or 'hey, who watched this guy in high school,'" Loggains said. "That's why you have to recruit and evaluate your area as well because you're building a file."

Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman at Sunday afternoon's workouts on the outdoor practice fields at the football center in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

Same thing in the NFL. They look at every player in the league every game.

"In the NFL a kid would get drafted and we did a lot of homework on him but we also knew we had to study him and evaluate everyone at the combine," he said. "At some point in free agency you're going to have to make a decision on him.

"You want to know about his character. You want to know if he fits your mold, your critical factors."

It's the new world of recruiting.

As we've seen with Hogs women's basketball coach Mike Neighbors, just because you miss landing a player a couple of years before doesn't mean you can't get a second chance.

The key is making the most of those chances.

Loggains' recruits a big chunk of Arkansas, tight ends across the country and some in the northern area of Dallas-Fort Worth because that's his home base.

"I like going there," he said.

Now it's about evaluation. Coaches look at players constantly along with their guys looking at laptops and mobile devices all day. They want to know if somebody becomes available.

"You take everything you know in the NFL about critical factors, evaluating positions and mental makeup you get to apply to recruiting," Loggains said. "There's a solicitation aspect to it but there's also the eval part."

It's also a big part of why he's become one of Sam Pittman's best recruiters.

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