NCAA Offers NIL Warnings To Aggies, Other Programs

Some have called NIL a "wild, wild west" atmosphere as offers of more than $1 million have been made to kids as young as 18 years old.

On Monday, a report indicated that the NCAA sent "letters of clarification" on NIL practices to its member schools, including Texas A&M. And the Aggies don't seem to be scared.

The new NIL laws have revolutionized college athletics and the way recruiting is handled at the highest level of college sports. Some have called it a "wild, wild west" atmosphere as offers of more than $1 million have been made to kids as young as 18 years old, and it's changed lives around the country.

Texas A&M has taken full advantage of the "name, image, likeness" rules to draw top talent in all programs. But the Aggies have also been ridiculed and chastized by other programs for using the new arrangement to its full advantage by basically buying players other programs couldn't afford. So much so that A&M touted what was called the best-ever recruiting class in 2022 with six five-star players and 19 four-star recruits.

SEC coaches Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin were among those who said the Aggies boosters may have offered as much as $30 million to gain that class.

But will the Aggies be changing anything in the way they handle NIL deals after this "letter of clarification" was sent?

As reported by Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, these letters “strongly clarify [the NCAA’s] NIL policy by warning schools that (1) they must follow NCAA rules even if they conflict with state laws and (2) entities such as school foundations are prohibited from NIL and offering donor incentives for NIL giving.”

The NCAA pointed out that NIL wasn't intended to be used as a "pay for play." And every state has different laws that dictate its use.

In Texas, for example, Dellenger reports that “Texas A&M donors will earn priority points through the school’s fundraising arm for donations that eventually funnel to athletes.”

Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork recently responded to the NCAA’s NIL guidelines by saying, “The state law is going to govern how we do business… In terms of this, the state law will reign. And that’s how we’ll move forward.”

After all, the NCAA has demonstrated on many occasions how little it cares about punishing rules breakers. 

But the NCAA appears to be singling out the Aggies and their NIL practices. The next question is, can anything be done to change it?

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