Raiders legend Tim Brown, Clemson standout Jeff Bostic say NIL rules are bad for the game

Tim Brown says it will only get worse before it gets better.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon May 02 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

GREENVILLE – Two college football and NFL greats think the current NIL and the transfer portal rules are bad for the future of college football.

Tim Brown and Jeff Bostic were on hand in Greenville for last week’s South Carolina Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Bostic was one of the inductees and Brown was there to represent Clemson great Chester McGlockton, who was Brown’s teammate with the Raiders and a closer personal friend.

The new NIL – Name/Image/Likeness – rules were designed to help college athletes take monetary advantage of their success while still on a college campus. However, the bad side of the new rules is popping up almost every day as some college athletes appear to be selling themselves to the highest bidder while using the transfer portal and NIL as a type of free agency.

Those unintended consequences are ruining the game, according to Bostic, who played at Clemson in the late 1970s and then played 14 years for the Washington Redskins, winning three Super Bowls along the way.

“I don’t like the NIL. These are amateur athletes. Amateur athletes means you don’t get paid,” Bostic said. “If you’re getting paid, you are no longer an amateur athlete. I am not in that area anymore, but that’s the way I feel. I don’t feel like the NIL should be going to the players. Maybe it should go to the school and use it for academics or something. But it shouldn’t go directly to the players.”

In just the last few weeks, Miami basketball player Isaiah Wong seemed to be shopping his services to the highest bidder before returning to the Canes, Tennessee has reportedly thrown $8 million at 5-star quarterback prospect Nico Iamaleava, and Pitt’s Jordan Addison is reportedly headed to USC amid claims he is receiving a hefty NIL deal from the Trojans.

Brown won a Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame and then spent 16 years with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015. Brown didn’t mince words on his thoughts about the transfer portal.

“I can understand the transfer portal, if a coach leaves or you are about to be a senior and you're not going to get to play,” Brown told TigerNet. “Or you're going to be a fifth-year guy and want to play. But for a freshman to be able to say after one year, 'I'm out,' I just don't think it's good for the game.”

Brown is also not a fan of NIL.

“This NIL thing is going to get worse before it gets better. We literally have kids going to a school just to get the money,” Brown said. “What if you take the money and then somebody else offers you more, are you going to take more money? I think that is the way this thing is going to go, unfortunately. But the NCAA has bowed out. They have said, we don't want to do this anymore. We don't want to oversee anybody and that kind of stuff.

“And I think that's really sad, because all of the things people got in trouble for back in the day are now legal. I just think at some point that isn't good for college football.”