Texas Longhorns 'Don't Want' Players Committing for NIL Reasons

NIL continues to be a hot topic for fans around the country, regardless of whether their team suffers from it or flourishes from it.

The Texas Longhorns, regardless of your feelings for them, are at the forefront of NIL - a pseudo cover poster for it, and it remains unseen if that is for good or for bad. Regardless of affiliation, though, every team handles NIL differently.

The Longhorns don't shy away from it, nor should they, given the program's deep history. They are often seen with Lamborghinis lined up at the front doors, red carpet rolled out, awaiting recruits as they visit Forty Acres.

Steve Sarkisian's Thoughts on NIL

When you're the head coach of the Texas Longhorns, it's not just the eyes of Texas upon you, but the eyes of the country as well. Precedents can be set, trends can be decided, all because you are at the helm of one of the most prestigious colleges in the world.

For Steve Sarkisian, though, he doesn't believe NIL dictates his program or his recruiting style. He spoke at the SEC Media Days and shared his thoughts on NIL and how it affects his program.

"You only have so much money to go around. You've got to be mindful of that. You just don't want to be reckless with what you do."

The answer was in response to trying to operate within their program's "cap", which they have devised to avoid overspending and limit wasted money. When asked how you prevent that situtation from unfolding, he said:

"We've got to do a great job of evaluating. We've got to do a great job of rewarding those players that are doing it at a high level in our program so they don't go anywhere else, but we've also got to continue to develop our players as they grow and make sure that our players aren't doing this for the idea of money."

He continued on about how his program treats conversations with recruits regarding NIL deals:

"I think sometimes, quite frankly, it hurts us a little bit in recruiting in the fact that, when kids come on our campus, one of the first things we do, we don't talk about NIL," Sarkisian said. "We don't talk about NIL or revenue sharing or publicity rights until the very end, and that may hurt us on some kids, but if a kid is coming to Texas for that reason, we don't want him anyway. We want kids that want to be at the University of Texas because of the school, the coaches, the team, the culture, all those things that go into it, and, oh, by the way, you can get publicity rights or revenue share and so on and so forth."

For a program with as deep pockets as the Longhorns', Sarkisian feels that his program doesn't need to rely on it, going further to say that it could hurt his program, which for a program rich in history shouldn't be a problem.

Players can come to Austin and get paid; that part is true for nearly every Division I college around the country. However, not every college can give you a chance to play for a national title almost every season like Texas can, and not many develop players and put them in the NFL like them.

For Sarkisian and his staff, NIL deals will change every year, but regardless of the players on the roster, the goal remains the same: to bring a national championship back to Forty Acres.