Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been one of the biggest critics of the recent NIL (name, image, likeness) deals that have taken the collegiate sports world by storm.
His previous comments about the topic have been extremely general, calling out the concept and saying that it has turned recruiting into a bidding war closer to what we see in professional sports.
Saban decided to get a little bolder on Wednesday, calling out individual programs including Texas A&M and Jackson State.
He went into detail about Jackson State’s recruitment of 2022 top recruit Travis Hunter, claiming that the program paid him a million dollars to come to their school.
More from Nick Saban tonight: “Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to school. It was in the paper. They bragged about it! Nobody did anything about it."
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) May 19, 2022
This has not been confirmed to be true, and Hunter took to social media on Thursday to dispel these rumors from Saban.
“I got A mil? But my mom still stay in a 3 bed room house with five kids.”
I got A mil?😂But my mom still stay in a 3 bed room house with five kids 🤣
— Travis Hunter (@TravisHunterJr) May 19, 2022
Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders also took to social media to back up his player, adding that he doesn’t even earn that as a head coach at the program.
“I don’t even make a million! Lolololol,” said Sanders.
I don’t even make a million! Lolololol 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/wagxbCJoWs
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) May 19, 2022
It certainly seems like Saban is upset with the way recruiting is currently done, in particular because Alabama didn’t have the top recruiting class for the 2022 class.
Regardless of whether or not Saban likes it, it appears that NIL deals will be in the future of collegiate sports, and he will need to adjust with the times if he wants to compete with other programs that may be more willing to change.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.