Michigan Football: What Warde Manuel said about NIL is important

NIL has been a hot topic of conversation among Michigan football fans and what Warde Manuel said recently was important.

We have talked about NIL, cheating, handouts, what it has to do with Michigan football, etc, over and over and over again. It reared its ugly head a few weeks ago when Nick Saban accused Jimbo Fisher of “buying his entire roster” (when we all know damn well that both coaches bought their rosters).

There are fans against NIL (mainly old heads who hate seeing any sort of progressive changes to anything) and there are fans for NIL.

Whether you like it or not, NIL is here to stay, so at this point, moaning and complaining about something that won’t be going away any time soon is just a waste of time.

One major complaint though that fans have had with NIL (specifically in Michigan’s case, and I can agree with this) is the amount that some of these athletes are making and the fear that Michigan’s academic image or prestige will take a major hit by letting any Joe Blow into the program without the grades to really attend a school like Michigan or the motivation to get a degree.

Again, in regards to this issue, I completely agree. Michigan football shouldn’t just let any recruit into the program (no matter the prestige) if they do not care at all about grades and just want the money, but some comments from AD Warde Manuel should hopefully put a lot of these concerns to bed.

What Warde Manuel said recently on NIL.

On the department-produced “Conqu’ring Heroes” podcast, Warde Manuel said that there are “a couple of collectives in development here” at the university.

This bodes well for the future of Michigan’s athletics, as we know that AD Warde Manuel is taking NIL seriously enough that he stands behind the development of some of these NIL programs.

We’ve complained and gotten upset over the fact that it didn’t seem like the higher-ups cared about NIL as much as we would like, and it has probably negatively affected recruiting in some ways, so hopefully, this is the start of a nice run of NIL programs.

Then, this next comment from Warde really caught my eye and is the main takeaway from his time on the podcast.

"“It always to me has to be about education. The collectives can help us, and they can help to provide additional support.”“If collective means pooling money together and giving people money for just being a student-athlete at Michigan, I’m against it,” Manuel said. “If collective means providing opportunities and resources and pooling them together and providing them to student-athletes and assuring that they’re doing something for that benefit, there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I’m supportive of collectives that do things the right way.”“I can’t say anybody else has or has not (induced a player); I’ll let the general public and things that are out in the general public be what it is,” Manuel said. “But that’s not what it should be about. That’s not what a collective should be. A collective should be to put resources together — be it jobs, be it opportunities for social media, (autograph) signings, whatever people want to do. But our student-athletes have to participate. To receive anything, they should have to do something for that just like anybody else.”"

So, there you have it, folks. Warde Manuel has literally verbally said that Michigan only does NIL deals that have educational purposes or to pool resources into a specific thing like jobs, autograph signings, etc.

There are no handouts of any kind just for being a student-athlete at Michigan. Every player that wants an NIL deal has to work for it themselves.

So, for all of those “holier than thou” fans out there that dread the day Michigan football becomes part of the Wild West and just hands out bags of cash and NIL deals with no filter, that day will never come.

So relax.

Athletes will still need the grades to get into the school, they will still need to stay motivated in the classroom and not just on the football field, and they will have to seek out NIL deals themselves and work to acquire whatever they want.

Not everyone who reads this article will agree with that thinking. That’s okay too. In a perfect world, Michigan should be able to get whoever they want, whenever they want. Some very high-level recruits will be turned off from Michigan and this way of thinking, but it is what it is.

You win some, and you lose some. It’s just the way recruiting is in today’s times. Ohio State is in the worst possible situation in my opinion. Ryan Day said he thinks it costs Ohio State $13 million to keep their roster. Don’t believe me? Here’s the link to the article. Insanity.

Give me the roster of guys that actually want to be at Michigan any day of the week. Won’t have the most talent in the country, but will be trustworthy, will give it their all, and won’t transfer at the promise of more money somewhere else.

Michigan football has already proven that they don’t need the talent of Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, etc, to make the playoff, so for now, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Also, this also means no complaining when Michigan football doesn’t get 10 five-star recruits every year or misses on more guys than you’d like. This is the “punishment” for doing things the right way. Can’t have it both ways.