Greg McElroy sounds off on NIL, collectives in college athletics

Former Alabama star Greg McElroy spoke about the state of NIL in college football, downplaying the idea that players are getting millions. While making an appearance on the 3 And Out podcast, McElroy was asked about reports that NIL collectives are helping players get huge paydays to play for their schools — something that the former national champion quarterback claims are overstated numbers.

Greg McElroy on NIL payments

While speaking about an array of topics about Alabama and the state of college football, McElroy was asked if the reported multi-million dollar NIL deals that were being reported were accurate. McElroy immediately laughed as he responded that they were, then explained that the numbers themselves seem to be inflated to increase expectations.

“So you’ve gotta consider the source too, right? And a lot of the numbers are coming from representation and agencies,” explained McElroy. “In an effort, I think, to drive up the price of their next client. The numbers that I’ve heard from Division I schools — they are 10 percent of the aforementioned $11 million dollars. And that is on the ultimate high side. It’s a lot of money, there’s no denying that it’s a lot of money. But that is like the highest, that’s the top half of one percent is maybe making a million dollars. There might be ten players in the country that have legitimate million dollar deals. I don’t know the specific numbers but it’s really small.

“I know some of these people say the collectives are looking to raise between eight and ten million dollars — well I have it on fairly good authority that most collectives that I’ve talked to and most people that are connected to collectives across college football — their goal is one million dollars. A lot of [their] goal is 1.7 million dollars because they want to be able to pay every scholarship player $20,000. So the average scholarship college football player is probably making somewhere in the vicinity of $10,000-$25,000.”

McElroy’s explanation appeared to make a lot of sense, but he made sure to reiterate that he doesn’t have all the facts — just what he’s heard from people close to the collectives. McElroy then used a major Alabama name to illustrate his point that not everything people believe about NIL might be true, stating that star Will Anderson made nothing with NIL last season.

“How about this? Will Anderson … his NIL total dealings last year … he made a grand total of zero dollars via NIL last year. Zero. Some players, they’re not interested in it. It might be different this year, I’m not sure. I hadn’t heard anything publicly about what [Anderson’s] capable of earning but I know he had ample opportunities last year and said it was a distraction. He didn’t want anything to do with it. He’s just wired differently. Not that that’s praising him or discouraging him or saying he’s crazy or anything like that — just some guys aren’t motivated by it. Some guys don’t care about it. They know their money will come at the next level or they know their money will come down the line with consistent performance.

“I don’t think the numbers are as extravagant as some people like to suggest. I think a lot of the coaches are trying to push down what’s expected on the recruiting trail now.”