The college quarterback shuffle is in full effect, as multiple quarterbacks reportedly have entered the portal over the past few days. Among them are: the University of Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke, Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall, Duke University’s Riley Leonard, and Kansas State University’s Will Howard.
For University of Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule, any decisions on a new quarterback are at the mercy of budget in the new NIL free market.
“Make no mistake that a good quarterback in the portal costs a million to $1.5 million to $2 million right now,” Rhule told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. “Just so we’re on the same page. Let’s make sure we all understand what’s happening. There’s some teams that have $6 or $7 million players playing for them.”
Money Talks
Rhule went 5-7 in his first year with the Cornhuskers, and after a close loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes in Week 13, Nebraska is missing out on a bowl game. However, after utilizing three quarterbacks who made at least five appearances during the season, Rhule is looking at student-athletes in the transfer portal but staying steadfast in “old-school” recruiting.
“We just kind of believe in doing things the old-school way,” Rhule said. “The hard way. Building. But that doesn’t mean we won’t look at people in the portal. We did it last year.
“It just means they have to be clearly an impact player for us, if they’re like a one-year player. Or they have to be someone that has multiple years to get into our program and develop.”
Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders did an about-face recently when discussing the transfer portal and price tag for good players. Coach Prime initially stated that the Colorado Buffaloes would not be treated like an “ATM” for college student-athletes, but his stance seemingly has changed since faltering to 4-8.
Coach Prime’s Reversal
“We’re not an ATM. That’s not going to happen here,” Coach Prime said on Nov. 21 ahead of the season finale at Utah, a 23-17 Colorado loss. “If you come to Colorado to play football for me and the Colorado Buffaloes, it’s because you really want to play football and receive a wonderful education and all the business stuff will be handled on the back end, if that’s the case. But we are not an ATM. You’re not coming here to get rich unless you’re really coming here with a plan to go to the NFL and get your degree.”
Then, after the Nov. 25 loss to end the season, Prime changed his tune.
“We definitely need ‘giving.’ You know what I mean,” Prime said in postgame remarks at Utah, where the Buffaloes their sixth consecutive game of 2023. “It’s unfortunate to say this, but some kids cost. … We can sit here and talk about great coaching and great this and great that all we want. But it’s going to be a credit card swipe with all these guys going to these playoffs. I understand that.”
From Matt Rhule to Coach Prime, the NIL landscape is laid out plain and simple, and it is clear, to borrow lyrics from Sanders’ song he made in the ’90s, that it “must be the money.”
