There appears to be a difference in NIL strategies between these two college football giants as a major recruiting rivalry surges.

In another sign of how name, image and likeness payments have fundamentally changed college football, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley admitted this week that player payments became such a contentious issue on his team that it caused strife in the locker room.

Even college football's elite have felt the effects of losing recruiting battles to others over money. Five-star defensive lineman Justus Terry helped Texas secure the top-ranked signing class in the 2025 cycle after pledging to the Longhorns over Georgia largely due to an enhanced offer.

Locksley pointed to significant shift to the NIL era as the root of the locker room disconnect, which he believed was created by his players not playing for the collective group.

Next week, college football coaches can put the recruiting promises they have made to high school seniors on paper. Then the question becomes whether they can keep them.

NIL is already making big changes in college football, but will all these changes be for the good of the sport? When asked, the casual college football fan has no issue at all with the NIL (name ...

Opendorse, an NIL marketplace, projects $1.175 billion to be spent on NIL in 2023-24 across all college sports. The Grove Collective at Ole Miss raised $1.7 million in NIL funds in one day last month.

USC Recruit Expected to Receive NIL Deal Worth More Than Pro Bowl Tight End originally appeared on Athlon Sports. There's no doubt that in this age of college football, the ability to hand out large name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts is what can separate some of the best teams from the worst.