Nebraska Cornhuskers HC Claims Top-Level Big Ten Teams Spent $20-25 Million in NIL

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule stated in an interview that teams he and the Huskers will have to face have spent $20-25 million in NIL money.

He goes on to say that if Nebraska is to have any chance of competing in the Big Ten, they will have to pony up similar amounts of cash.

Rhule claims that there is no avoiding NIL in the modern age of college football. Whether you agree with it or not, it is necessary to perform like a top-level team.

Nebraska Cornhuskers HC Matt Rhule claimed a transfer portal quarterback costs $1-2 million

At the end of the 2023 season when it was clear that the Nebraska Cornhuskers and head coach Matt Rhule were going to have to acquire another quarterback in some fashion, Rhule said in a press conference that a “good” quarterback in the transfer portal costs anywhere between $1-2 million.

This number only accounts for transfer portal quarterbacks and does not account for regular high school recruits. Top-level teams like the Ohio State Buckeyes brought in a transfer quarterback like Will Howard from the Kansas State Wildcats, who is now competing for the starting job with high-level quarterbacks who were recruited the old-fashioned way.

Ruhle and the Nebraska Cornhuskers ended up staying away from the transfer portal at the quarterback position ahead of 2024, but there is no doubt that there was some NIL money involved with the position regardless.

Five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola chose the Nebraska Cornhuskers over the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Georgia Bulldogs. He is arguably the best recruit to come to Nebraska since they started being tracked in the mid-2000s.

While there is history with the Raiola family and the Cornhuskers, it is hard to believe that a sum of NIL money didn’t play a part in luring a five-star quarterback to a team that hasn’t appeared in a bowl game in nearly a decade.

It’s not hard to see how top-level teams like the Ohio State Buckeyes could’ve spent $20-25 million when looking at their potential 2024 roster

Not only have the Ohio State Buckeyes made high-level additions to their roster from the transfer portal, but they have kept a lot of proven starters from going to the NFL. Players returning to the Buckeyes include:

• Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams
• Safety Lathan Ransom
• Defensive end Jack Sawyer
• Defensive tackle Ty Hamilton
• Cornerback Denzel Burke
• Offensive line Donovan Jackson
• Cornerback Jordan Hancock
• Wide receiver Emeka Egbuka
• Defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau
• Running back TreVeyon Henderson

The majority of those returning players were surefire NFL draft picks, meaning there was certainly some NIL money used to lure them back for another year.

On top of one of the most complete lists of returning players in the country, the Buckeyes added highly-touted players from the transfer portal such as quarterback Will Howard, cornerback Caleb Downs, running back Quinshon Judkins and center Seth McLaughlin.

Downs, who is widely considered one of the best young cornerbacks in college football, personally has an On3 NIL valuation of just under $1 million. Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban had high praise for Downs in an article from On3.

“I think what impresses me most about Caleb Downs is his maturity,” former Alabama head coach Nick Saban said in December.

“He’s a very instinctive football player, but this guy, there’s no arrogance about him, being one of the best players in the country at his position. He’s very focused, he’s very coachable. He wants to know everything that you can ever tell him about how he can play his position better. He takes coaching well when you talk to him about what he did or didn’t do.”

NIL deals are done through private entities which means it will always be difficult to get exact numbers when it comes to how much teams are spending.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule likely has a better idea than the average person, but his $5 million range indicates he is still not completely knowledgeable about how much money teams are spending.