Bruce Pearl on what NIL means for Auburn Basketball

The Auburn head coach talked about NIL.

In the fast-paced world of big-time college sports, recruiting is and always will be the lifeblood of a program. Every year it’s a few programs fighting over coveted prospects and can’t miss players. Which college a player chooses will have a big impact on whether those players go pro.

Auburn has undoubtedly been a football school throughout its history but over the last eight years, Bruce Pearl has been able to bring his program into the conversation. A program not known for producing highly rated draft prospects has now produced three first-round picks and two second-round picks in the last five years. If things go as planned Jabari Smith will be Auburn Basketball’s next one and done and first-round selection for an NBA team. 

But how does NIL change the recruiting dynamic for a coach already on a roll with bringing in highly related talent? Bruce Pearl sat down with Mike Gittens and Ike Jones from The War Rapport to talk about it.

"I'll be jumping into that more when the season is over because there are some tremendous possibilities," Pearl said. "You can't be involved in pay to play which is one of the great challenges when it comes to monitoring. We're not making any promises but we'll just point to Jabari Smith as being one of the very few to have a national shoe contract."

In his own words, Pearl went on to describe the introduction of NIL as a big turn and a full 360 for college basketball. He noted that while NIL arrived in the summer the program hasn’t had a ton of time to adjust to the new dynamic it presents. Compliance will be key in providing student-athletes with opportunities to maximize their NIL potential, but he astutely notes that NIL is “NOT PAY FOR PLAY”. A coach cannot make promises, but he can point to the student-athletes who have been able to take advantage of NIL as a part of his program.

For a coach with a top 5 program in the country fresh off a final four just 2 years ago, there are plenty of reasons for any prospect to want to play for Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers. NIL may provide even more reasons Auburn becomes a premiere landing spot for top athletes. Watch the full interview with Bruce Pearl above.