Should Ohio State football be worried about the NIL debacle at Texas A&M?

The Ohio State football program has started leaning into NIL more. They know that unless they get with the times, current players on the roster and recruits will go elsewhere. Certain people might not like it, but NIL money is the only way to keep the best players in Columbus.

That's a strong reason why new President Ted Carter hired Ross Bjork as the new AD. Bjork was not afraid to use NIL money to help the Texas A&M football program. In fact, jokes were made about how the entire 2023 recruiting class seemed to be bought to come there.

A&M has had a lot of players from that class enter the transfer portal. Players have also come out and said that the NIL deals they were making were not what they thought they were and that money has not come in like they were promised. Is this something that should concern Ohio State football fans?

I don't think this is a massive deal, but it's worth monitoring. Obviously, no one knows the specifics about some of these NIL deals so it's hard for me to say what exactly the players thought they were getting. But I do think that we'll learn in the next two recruiting cycles in 2025 and 2026 if it becomes an issue.

At that time, Bjork will be fully on the job and Ohio State might even have a new football coach. Then we can make a determination whether or not the NIL debacle in College Station is specific to them. For right now, Buckeye fans should just be happy to have an AD who supports NIL.

The Buckeyes should be really good again next year and NIL helped get some of those kids to campus. Things have changed very quickly in the last 10 years or so in the sport. Bjork is the guy who Carter thinks can lead them through more changes in the future.