Pittsburgh Steelers Great Jerome Bettis Criticizes NIL as Son Begins Notre Dame Career

The elder Bettis can certainly see differences in college sports now versus when he played for Lou Holtz, and some of them he's not too fond of.

"One of the first two questions is gonna be money." Bettis told the Sporting News, "That was never in the equation. What you used to look for is not necessarily the priority as much. That's the scary part about this new NIL world that these players are living in. The educational side, I think, is now put on the back burner with the understanding that it's about the NIL and it is about playing time, right? And, I think that's the way this, it's kind of been skewed. I'm not a big fan of, kind of how the process is. I understand it," Bettis told Andrew Hughes.

Don't get it confused, Bettis isn't against NIL, but he's certainly not a fan of the lack of true commitment that comes these days.

“I think the NIL is necessary, but I do believe you've gotta find a way to get the players a little bit more commitment, in a sense that, right now, NIL with the transfer portal makes it a free agency fest. I think it really disrupts a young person's opportunity with the education. Because if I'm transferring year to year, how is the education affected by that? Because ultimately, what I try to make sure of, that the young people understand when I'm talking to them, is that even if you do have an incredible NFL career, you may play eight, 10 years.

Bettis noted that even those with the best NFL careers post-college have a lot of life left following their playing days.

"You're gonna be 32, 33, 34 years old. That degree is going to be necessary at some point. You have a long life to live. That education with pay dividends and will be a factor. But if you're not considering it at all, then it can be to your detriment."

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

Based on reading the headline on The Sporting News webpage today, I was worried that Bettis was going to come off sounding like an old man yelling at a cloud. I think what he has to say speaks to why Notre Dame is having so much success in recruiting lately, and specifically with sons of former NFL players.

Those guys get what life is like during a pro football career as well as after. At 16 or 17 years old they may think football will last forever, but before you know it, it's done, and there are decades upon decades left to live and thrive elsewhere.

Having a degree in something other than Underwater Basket Weaving is a key part of the opportunity that is afforded and Bettis probably has experience of former teammates in the pros could have used more of the academic opportunity, and fears those missed chances may only get worse with this generation when they jump from program to program on an annual basis.