Ohio State Football needs to redistribute NIL money

NIL is new for everyone within the Ohio State football program. The Buckeyes are leading the country in NIL compensation and have been doing a good job of getting money to some key position groups. But they need to start redistributing the money to some other position groups.

We saw that the Buckeyes give quarterbacks the most money on the team, closely followed by the wide receivers. It’s great to have some studs at those positions, but the Buckeyes need to funnel some of that money to the offensive and defensive lines.

The trenches are where the game is won. Ohio State saw that last year when they got beat down in Ann Arbor. They were soft in the trenches and lost because of it. The defensive recruiting class in 2023 isn’t the strongest we’ve seen, so they need to get a bit better with the NIL money to help fix that.

The Ohio State football program is at the forefront of NIL funding for its players. I’m sure they’ll have a better idea of what to do with the various collectives that have sprung up around Columbus to help get the money to different position groups for next year’s recruiting class.

NIL is a game-changer for recruiting. Whoever can learn to use it as a weapon the best will quickly get the best recruits. Ohio State has done well with it in the first year it’s been allowed. After a year of everything, the Buckeyes will only be better with it.

I would expect the Buckeyes to get some top-shelf defensive recruits next year. The same thing goes for the offensive line. Ohio State has got to replenish the offensive line after this year when they could lose pretty much the entire starting offensive line.

NIL is here to stay. The programs that master it will win the championships.