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That’s exactly what schools like South Carolina and Illinois are doing with NIL. They know they don’t have the money to compete with the likes of Texas or Ohio State, so they’re using a big chunk of what they do have on retaining current players. Granted, they still have the flexibility to earmark a percentage for incoming recruiting classes — something a program like Akron just can’t afford to do.

Since schools are now able to pay up to $20 million directly, the realistic solution would be to schedule a 2nd or even 3rd P4 every year. If OSU is paying $1.4 million, use 300k (or whatever) to cover travel expenses and invest the $1.1 million in NIL. If you don't have money to retain your players, you can't compete in the MAC. Others on here complain about playing a 2nd paycheck game, but I don't see another workable solution.

I don’t know how in the hell they could get to $1 million in NIL unless Kaulig dumps it all into the pot. I say this half jokingly, but it really is pathetic, maybe they could offer food as an NIL as an incentive of to keep some kids.?

I'll add one more note regarding Akron and NIL - A goal of the Zips between now and December is to reach $1,000,000 in NIL money. This would be spent to keep the best players in the fold and stem the "talent drain" we witness every season. I don't know how they'll get there considering where our NIL balance sheet stands today. Time will tell.

Congratulations to Darlington Nagbe He definitely deserves to be included on the list of the greeatest 11 players to ever play for Portland Timbers What a Tremendous career!!! A National title for the Zips and MLS titles with 3 different winners. https://www.timbers.com/news/timbers-all-time-xi-presented-by-toyota-midfielder-darlington-nagbe

These three paragraphs stand out to me. I agree, college football for me is becoming less interesting by the week. I don't care that there is money in it now for the players. I do care that the conversations around it are so tedious and boring. It's all so gross anymore and I even mean other sports as well. There are lots of other things I can do with my time. I'm going to start doing those and wait for pro football to come on the television on Sundays. Being broke is bad. Being the poorest of the poor is catastrophic. It's something that can't be hidden from the competition. Heck, they talk about it publicly. I don't know how any coach wins under these conditions. Akron will have a losing record again this season. They will part ways with Joe. Then they will hire another victim. Years ago I drove everyone nuts when I called Akron The Graveyard of Coaches. Please prove me wrong. Would I care if Akron got rid of football? Yes I would but I'm at the age where I wouldn't be overly upset. Football is the national sport now and they need to find a way to have one at whatever level works for them. I don't want to be a Wright State or Cleveland State. This could be said for a lot of programs around the country. Maybe schools like Dayton have figured it out. Become part of a non-scholarship conference while having high level basketball, etc. Maybe a huge weight would be lifted off of MAC schools if they all went this direction.

I was busy Tuesday and Wednesday, and we had technical issues with the board through this morning. Here is my overview of Monday’s event – Like in all sports, the fun associated with college football is being sucked out the game. No longer are we talking about incoming freshman, and who might see playing time. We’re not talking about the team’s growth from 2024 to 2025. We’re talking Transfer Portal, and NIL. The fun and interesting stuff is now parsley on the plate. One thing is abundantly clear – the Zips ain’t got no money. We have the smallest staff in D1. We have the smallest budget in D1…by a longshot. Our coaches weren’t even permitted to travel and recruit in the spring. I don’t think any Division 2 schools prevented their coaches from travel-recruiting in the spring, let alone D1. Said Joe Moorhead – “If you wonder why some schools have 15 or 20 kids committed, and we have 3, there you go.” Our players once again have no training table. In 2024 a booster was able to generate $18,000 to get a training table returned. But this summer, and looking into the fall, our guys get a flat $91 per month, and 5 meals per week in Robs (Robertson to the old guys). We’re basically banking on parent care packages to feed the team. At some point soon UA is going to need to decide if it wants football, or not. The situation as it stands right now is not sustainable. Regarding the academics – Joe said when a player hooks up with another program, you get your “point” back. But if they drop out completely, you don’t. We had a lot of terrible football players who hit the portal over Joe’s first 3 seasons, and too many of them dropped our completely. So here we are. The new AD spoke for about 10 minutes. He seems like a nice guy. He has a good rapport with Joe and is a strong supporter of football. He wants to get the community re-engaged with the Zips. He has a lot of work to do. If were him I’d focus on branding. That seems like what any great AD would do in this situation. Matt Kaulig was there. He didn’t speak, but it was nice of him to make a showing (there were maybe 40 total people in attendance). Someone asked if the Zips would take back a player who’d overestimated their worth in the portal. Joe said “Yes, if they want to be a walk-on.” I’ll guess the reference was to Jordon Simmons who would have been Akron’s starting RB this season, but instead flamed-out at Ole Miss, and is now at Georgia State. The same Georgia State that just signed a 4-star transfer RB from Georgia. I'll guess Jordon doesn't see much PT this year. A coach was overheard saying – “Don’t ask me about any players until about week 2 of camp. There are probably at least 15 kids who will receive appreciable playing time…and who I’ve never seen on an actual field.” Coach Tibesar told a story of a phone call he received from Louisville regarding a Zip that was in the portal. Now that you can provide money to walk-ons, Louisville is trying to build the strongest scout team possible and was asking if the kid was any good. So on the surface it might look like the Zips lost a player to a bigger school like Louisville or Tennessee, but they may just be there for the cash, prestige, and to make scholarship guys work a little. Crazy times we live in. Colin Lyons and AJ George spoke for a bit and answered some questions. Both outstanding young men. Both will become teachers when all is said and done. They’ve been leading the unsupervised workouts this summer. They said all players are participating. Joe was bullish on his team’s attitude and effort. There should be no culture issues this season…even with the influx of new guys. Culture-fit within the program was stated as a high priority in the recruiting process. We’ll see how 2025 plays out. I know the Nebraska kids aren’t eating ramen noodles and Food Club Mac-n-Cheese though…

My son will be going to camp tomorrow

It's too bad they don't hold public events and fans could go ask questions to quench their thirst. Oh, wait.....

Television networks haven't decided.

Of the players you mentioned above only Naz Reid and Julius Randle have done enough in the NBA to earn consistent minutes and figure to play the bulk of minutes for Minnesota this year. Everyone else is either unproven or a JAG (just another guy). If Minnesota is placing Freeman on a two way deal, they're likely not expecting much from him this season. Mainly break glass in case of emergency (fill in in case of injury plague) with the hope he can develop into something a season ot two down the line.

welcome to CFB in 2025, you'll find out about 10 days before kickoff for each game

IDK but I like him better in this interviewing role than doing play by play 🎳

Sorry I'm a little behind, but does anyone know when/why the rest of the MAC games dates and times hasn't been released? This just seems completely ridiculous that 4 games officially have dates and times but the rest don't? And it seems to be this way across the NCAA ...

I wonder if they play to play him as a post or a wing. I seem to remember Indiana saying they wanted him to be a wing, but then he never played much there. Minnesota is already fairly deep down low: Naz Reid Julius Randle Leonard Miller Jesse Edwards Joan Berringer Rocco Zikarsky

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

I believe so. He was standing 50 feet away talking into a microphone as it was spreading around the room so I suspect it is pretty solid.

Minnesota is a good fit! Is it a done deal?

When did Reghi turn into a bowling ball?

Worth a listen.

The alumni game was fun. LCJ, Cheese, Banks, Dawson, Sayles, Tribble, Thornton, Hunter, Diggs and Gray played. Enrique was there but didn't play. Two pieces of news from the event: Enrique has been signed by Minnesota (I believe on a 2-way); and Groce was in Europe recruiting.

Enrique is now off to Minnesota after the Pacers pulled back his two-way offer.

Sorry for the downtime. My fault. New spambot software update confused me for a minute.

I agree. There are still a significant groups of football supporters who are thirsting for any news on the program and the upcoming season. Too bad we can't get any information.