3 different potential NIL deal scenarios for Michigan athletics

We’ve discussed so much on here about how NIL has had a negative impact on Michigan football’s recruiting, and have tried to find ways to justify the athletic department’s way of thinking, but, there’s simply no way around it.

Michigan’s athletic department, including AD Warde Manuel and head coach Jim Harbaugh, need to find a way to catch up with the rest of the modern world, or else Michigan football and basketball will fall way behind their rivals, and won’t get their major pickings of the elite talent pool.

I was blown up in my last article in the comments section for apparently not being “fair” to Jim Harbaugh (it is what it is), so today, we are going to discuss the athletics department as a whole.

Jared Wangler’s comments on Twitter about Michigan not needing to give recruits money to come to the school, and that Michigan will be fine without them is terribly false.

We already saw what happened to Michigan football in the playoff game with less talent than their rival. Now, imagine if Michigan fields a team with even half of that talent, or a third?

There definitely wouldn’t be a playoff, that’s for sure, as 2-3 losses or more every year would probably be the result.

Also, I absolutely love J.J. McCarthy (as I’ve expressed many times on here before)  as he’s a literal Michigan Man, and is the most loyal you will ever find, but his comments about Michigan and NIL, line up exactly with what Harbaugh and Warde say, are wrong as well.

On his Instagram or Twitter, JJ said, “Any player that wants to get paid to come to Michigan doesn’t deserve to come.” Well, JJ is wrong too. JJ and every other player deserve to be paid. The amount that they want and can be paid is debatable, but they should be paid nonetheless.

Since Michigan keeps kicking the proverbial can down the road and shuffling its feet with this NIL situation, I’ve decided to take the liberty of trying to solve this NIL situation with a few different NIL payment scenarios that Michigan athletics should decide to use.

None of these are perfect solutions, as there will be some complaints with each scenario I’m sure, but, at least with these options, Michigan can sort of still control NIL, and not let NIL control them. Also, this can limit how much boosters can give recruits all at once.

Side note: Obviously, as an institution, Michigan can’t set up these deals for recruits themselves, as that’s a violation of the NIL rules, but third parties, like boosters, The Player’s Trunk, Victor’s Local Exchange Program, etc., can set these programs up, so when I reference Michigan, I really mean outside parties, representing the University of Michigan and their athletics.