Majority of Michigan Fans Disagree With Recruitment Method Using NIL for Top QB

According to a new survey, a majority of Michigan Wolverines fans do not agree with the way they recruited the best quarterback in the country.

Timothy Arrick/For the Livingston Daily / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The biggest story of the year with regards to college football recruiting has been the Michigan Wolverines' recent flip of future superstar No. 1 high school player in the country Bryce Underwood from the LSU Tigers.

Underwood had been committed to play for LSU since last January, but Michigan never stopped recruiting their in-state stud. Underwood hails from Belleville, Mich. just 30 minutes from Ann Arbor, and eventually last week the school got him to flip his commitment to stay at home and become the next quarterback for the Wolverines.

Michigan's method of recruiting Underwood has also been a major point of discussion as the Big 10 powerhouse has been reported to have given the gunslinger an NIL deal worth as much as $12 million to flip and stay at home with help from a billionaire backer of their Champions Circle collective.

Despite the fact that the method of dangling a huge deal in front of Underwood ultimately landed his commitment and likely his signature and future stardom for the Wolverines, a thin majority of Michigan fans do not agree with the way the program went about the recruitment.

According to a survey of fans of the Maize and Blue from SB Nation, 53 percent of the voters surveyed disagreed with the strategy of an NIL-centered approach, meaning that 47 percent of those who voted agreed it was the right way to go about things.

It's not shocking to not see everyone on board right away, but it would be fascinating to ask the same people three years from now coming off Underwood's junior season have changed their tune on the matter given his likely status as a superstar plus the fact that nobody knows what state NIL will be in at that point.

It takes some getting used to in order to both understand and accept this is the reality of competing at the highest level in college sports in 2024 and beyond. Until guardrails are put in place - something that seems increasingly likely to occur over the next several years - recruiting in today's day and age is the Wild West.

Not keeping up and doing the same thing as others - and doing it better than them - solely because you don't like the way it's happening is not an option for teams that want to win titles. Coming off a very down year as the defending national champion, Michigan landing Underwood is going to help them do just that.