Rumor: Cole Hocker has signed with Nike

NIL will effectively destroy college sports. As you stated, the rich get richer and can stockpile talent. After a few years, no one will want to follow college sports any longer because a few "all star" teams will dominate each and every sport. How much interest will there be if Oregon wins every T&F and XC title for umpteen straight years? Or, the football championship always comes down to Alabama vs. Ohio State? March Madness will be dull when it becomes "Can anyone beat Kentucky?".

I also have to ask, will universities be able to delay athlete entry into school and starting their eligibility clock? Could a super frosh like a Hobbs Kessler get signed to an NIL deal and a letter of intent, spend two years developing and racing open meets unattached, then come aboard as a better developed and physically mature 21 year old "freshman"?

BIG23 wrote:

Indoors did count towards eligibility. The only one that didn't count was Cross Country in 2020

if this is allowed, that basically means unlimited scholarships for oregon as presumably phil knight will be happy to pay kids' tuition.

what other programs have potential benefactors? will chris lukezic bankroll Georgetown?

collegepro wrote:

Think about what this means for scholarships and team sizes? If Oregon or other large schools has their stars being paid by a shoe company, that frees up those scholarships from their 12. The rich are going to get much richer as they can use them all for elite frosh while upper classman studs get shoe money. Will change the team dynamics quite a bit at the ncaa level.

Check out the NIL deal Built Bar announced with BYU football yesterday. Among other things, they are offering to pay the tuition for every walk on who signs up with the deal. There are 36 of them.

There's very little visibility right now about how this will play out in the end, but I see it very differently. There is nothing preventing schools from giving scholarships to the best athletes even if they have NIL deals -- which they will. The best recruits will still go to schools offering them scholarships so that they get to keep more of the money from the NIL deals. Perhaps it changes the supreme importance of scholarship money for many recruits in a good way, allowing them to pick the schools that offer them the best coaching and the best fit socially and academically. More money for athletes who are currently not quite good enough to get scholarships sounds like a very good thing, too.

I think it is a good thing. We can stop complaining about how few scholarships there are between xc and track. I also think it will be surprising how many schools have “friends of the program” willing to keep talent at their alma mater.

I also don’t think it is going to change the dynamics that much. How many more kids are you going to put on the Oregon or NAU roster that will never get to race? At some point top talent will find other programs that are willing to pay and have the option of actually competing.

Scoonie wrote:

Good move by Hocker. He has done great under Ben Thomas and should stick with him,

And he still gets to complete for Oregon as well. I think this new NIL policy will keep star athletes in college longer.

+1

He definitely needs to stay in Eugene and stay with Thomas. Having a supported training group that includes his Oregon teammates is a must. Don't mess with what got you there, keep it simple and consistent. Too bad they couldn't have Hobbs Kessler as well.

We could be seeing the beginnings of an amazing rivalry between Jakob, Cole, Cooper, and Hobbs for many years. Shades of Coe, Ovett, Cram, Aouita, and Walker.

Good Luck boys!!!

Throw in Timmy and Kipsang and the international field is going to by awesome

Hockey players already wait two years before enrolling at Div I schools- although they aren’t getting paid during the two years (they are playing in junior hockey leagues) and they are doing it to have a better chance at a scholarship.

I think this great if he can make money off of his name and still compete in college.

It was always wrong that the NCAA prohibited athletes from making money on their own.

Maybe it makes some programs more dominating but it can go the other way.

Say some fast kid really wants to go to a particular school but the don't fully fund their scholarships. He gets paid by Hoka and runs for the school he wants to run for.

I don't really care about the programs. I like the idea that talented runners can earn their own money, go to college and represent their school in competition.

none of the Oregon guys running Pre is a little odd if they were about to all go pro en masse

Well this ended up being correct huh, more than a few days of the news release but it’s all good.