How NIL Changed the Culture of College Football

“Culture” is a word you hear a lot at a place like SEC Media Days. I’d be willing to wager that Mark Stoops says it a dozen times or more on Thursday. It’s a catch-all for coaches that is difficult to precisely pinpoint, and in a new era where the sport has undergone an influx of money, it’s even more difficult to cultivate.

“The culture in college football is slowly changing,” Kirby Smart said this week in Atlanta.

For years, folks clamored for college athletes to be paid for their work. Now that it’s been in place for a while, it’s clear there have been some unfortunate, unintended consequences.

“I’ve seen what it looks like to have fire, passion and energy, and I’ve seen guys that were really hungry,” said Smart. “I go back to Dont’a Hightower or Rolando McClain or Julio Jones or Trent Richardson or Mark Ingram, all the way to Roquan Smith to Nolan Smith to Jordan Davis to George Pickens to Jake Fromm to guys that played in our program, D’Andre Swift. You know what they had? They had a love for the game and fire, passion and energy. That’s not the same as it used to be.”

Those remarks sound like they are coming from an Old Man Who Yells at Clouds. Dig deeper for just a moment.

“You can say what you want, but there’s people more in college football today, especially in the SEC, that are comfortable with where they are. This is a pretty good life. I’m earning 200K a year. I’m very comfortable. You don’t reach your goals being comfortable. You don’t attain great success — none of those people I mentioned before were ever comfortable. They were aiming at something. They had a goal. They wanted to go achieve it,” said Smart.

Smart’s assessment feels relatable to the 2024 Kentucky football team. Mark Stoops needs to ensure his Wildcats are uncomfortable, playing with a fire, passion, and energy to get an edge, one that turns into wins.

Sign up for the KSR Newsletter to receive Kentucky Wildcats news in the most ridiculous manner possible.