Michigan Football: Wolverines in position to take advantage of NIL

College sports changed forever on Thursday and the Michigan football program needs to take advantage of NIL. 

Michigan football isn’t one of the elite programs in college football right now. The Wolverines are good, but they aren’t there with Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and the like.

At least in terms of winning games on the field, which has had a direct impact on recruiting. The Wolverines are still one of the better-recruiting programs (top 15) in the country.

They routinely, including this year, are among the teams with the talent needed to win a national title according to the Blue-Chip ratio. But Michigan football hasn’t made the College Football Playoff or won the Big Ten title under Jim Harbaugh.

The Wolverines also haven’t been able to recruit at the same level as Ohio State, which has been as good as just about any program in the country when it comes to landing elite recruits.

However, the new NIL rules, which will allow players to make money on their name, image, and likeness, something the University of Michigan made official with its own policy, will give the Wolverines a unique opportunity to close the gap on competitors.

We all know the Wolverines have an impressive fanbase and one of the most iconic brands in college football. Not only is the helmet iconic, but Michigan has essentially taken the letter M and made it part of the brand. The block M is genius and even though Michigan doesn’t win like Ohio State or Georgia, it does have a social-media following to match.

In fact, only Alabama and LSU have bigger followings among college football programs. Michigan is third ahead of Ohio State, Clemson, Oklahoma, and other powers.

Yet, prior to Thursday, Michigan couldn’t really take advantage of that. Now, it can in a very real way.

Michigan football has to take advantage

The Wolverines hired Sydney Sims not long ago to add to the recruiting operation. She focuses on branding and tweeted that Michigan is working with an organization that will help athletes learn about NIL.

Michigan can’t set up these opportunities for players. Players also have certain limitations according to the school’s policy, but this can still be a major recruiting tool for the Wolverines and it’s one they have been preparing for.

The programs like Alabama and Ohio State, honestly can’t recruit much better than they are, so this isn’t going to help them much. But it could be a difference-maker for the Wolverines and if they take advantage of it, it could help level the playing field.