What an absolute disaster

— Charlie Quinn (@CharlieQuinnMMA) October 9, 2024

Sounds like the NCAA just wants players to have agents that write up a contract between the school and their client. Basically, all players are mercenaries nowadays. In my opinion, college football is going to suck until the top 30 or 40 schools leave to start their own conference, or the poors do something similar

I may be sending my letter of intent to give up all interest in college football, the way things are going.

When my kid committed at D1 level the coach said "you ready to do this" and my son said "yes sir" and a couple months later the high school had a ceremony of all the athletes signing a copy of a letter and about half of them put on a ball cap.

Is that REALLY such a big deal? It's 2024, almost 30 years into your reply on an email being the legal equivalent to your signature. The NLI doesn't explicitly contain any scholarship/cost/compensation information, it says "we good?" And reminds you to finish high school. 17 year old kids don't have the same contractural liabilities as mom and dad.

The NLI is cool in that it is symbolic. But nothing changes if it goes away. There's nothing binding until they arrive on campus or register for classes.

Not exactly correct about NLI.

Signing a NLI means other schools can no longer recruit that player, that player may not receive financial aid from a different school and the school must provide financial aid if the student is admitted.

it is entirely possible that the scholarship agreement covers the latter, but my guess is the first two are going away with the NLI.

NLI is binding for one year and is terminated if the kid does not get admitted or is released by the school.

In other words, now easier for schools to poach kids subject to a NLI.

I'm looking at the one my son signed. Says nothing you described. And "decom" is the opposite action of commit. If NLI is as binding as you'd say, Aranda has nothing to fear about his recruits leaving.
Happy to revisit in August when all his signings are on campus.

The letter does not have to say it because those are the rules of the NLI program. And any institution that participates in NLI is bound by the rules (well, they were; the program is being discontinued). So the institution is not allowed to recruit a signed kid, they are not allowed to offer a scholarship to a signed kid, they are not allowed to have a signed kid to participate in sports. As I understand it, the rules are enforced through the member schools, not really the athletes. But NLI is 100% a binding agreement.

About the NLI (nationalletter.org)
NLI Provisions (nationalletter.org)

Your coach should have advised you of all of this.

Killing Floor said:

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When my kid committed at D1 level the coach said "you ready to do this" and my son said "yes sir" and a couple months later the high school had a ceremony of all the athletes signing a copy of a letter and about half of them put on a ball cap.

Is that REALLY such a big deal? It's 2024, almost 30 years into your reply on an email being the legal equivalent to your signature. The NLI doesn't explicitly contain any scholarship/cost/compensation information, it says "we good?" And reminds you to finish high school. 17 year old kids don't have the same contractural liabilities as mom and dad.

The NLI is cool in that it is symbolic. But nothing changes if it goes away. There's nothing binding until they arrive on campus or register for classes.

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You actually bring up a great point in that many of the kids that commit out of high school are still minors. Any contract would have no binding effect - including a NIL agreement. I believe it might be binding on the school though. The state of college athletics is just a mess right now.

Killing Floor said:

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When my kid committed at D1 level the coach said "you ready to do this" and my son said "yes sir" and a couple months later the high school had a ceremony of all the athletes signing a copy of a letter and about half of them put on a ball cap.

Is that REALLY such a big deal? It's 2024, almost 30 years into your reply on an email being the legal equivalent to your signature. The NLI doesn't explicitly contain any scholarship/cost/compensation information, it says "we good?" And reminds you to finish high school. 17 year old kids don't have the same contractural liabilities as mom and dad.

The NLI is cool in that it is symbolic. But nothing changes if it goes away. There's nothing binding until they arrive on campus or register for classes.

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Teaching our children about commitment and the value of their own word / moral integrity? Absolutely a big deal.

Supporting a structure and telling our kids that they can give their word, yet back out of their word whenever and why-ever they feel like it is the wrong direction. How can you possibly support that, and be a (true) parent of children.

Our kids? I can only commit to my own kids and I agree that commitment, that promise was meaningful.

I don't believe every family instills that standard equally.

That's the hard part. That was true before portal. Give your word and mean it.
I get why a young person would consider a transfer. But doing so mid-season only hurts teammates.

ZachTay said:

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Killing Floor said:

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When my kid committed at D1 level the coach said "you ready to do this" and my son said "yes sir" and a couple months later the high school had a ceremony of all the athletes signing a copy of a letter and about half of them put on a ball cap.

Is that REALLY such a big deal? It's 2024, almost 30 years into your reply on an email being the legal equivalent to your signature. The NLI doesn't explicitly contain any scholarship/cost/compensation information, it says "we good?" And reminds you to finish high school. 17 year old kids don't have the same contractural liabilities as mom and dad.

The NLI is cool in that it is symbolic. But nothing changes if it goes away. There's nothing binding until they arrive on campus or register for classes.

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Teaching our children about commitment and the value of their own word / moral integrity? Absolutely a big deal.

Supporting a structure and telling our kids that they can give their word, yet back out of their word whenever and why-ever they feel like it is the wrong direction. How can you possibly support that, and be a (true) parent of children.

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Plus, these adults representing universities are excellent salesmen. It is not at all a stretch to think that a young man could be somewhat manipulated into signing a letter of intent. The law protects people from contractual obligations until they are 18 in recognition that younger people need protection. I completely agree that it is important to teach the importance of commitment, but I will err on the side of protecting the young man every day over the interests of a big corporation or university.