EVANSTON-The massive upheaval of college football was in full display on Tuesday at Northwestern’s Walter Athletics Center.
As head coach David Braun talked to the media in a hallway about new transfers on his roster this spring and how the program is positioned in terms of NIL, just a couple first downs away, in the spacious Ryan Fieldhouse practice field, a group of 10 Wildcats were warming up for their Pro Day workouts in front of NFL scouts.
When those players began their careers, NIL was not a thing. It was illegal to pay players, so none of them could be compensated for playing college football.
Yet, by the end of their five, six or even seven years of playing the game, all were receiving money from TrueNU Northwestern’s NIL collective, or through their own NIL deals.
In another sign of the times, four of the 10 players jumping and running for the scouts began their careers at another program and came to Northwestern via the transfer portal. One of them, RJ Pearson, played at three schools in his career.
The shifting sands could be enough to bury a small school completing in a big conference with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon. But Braun said on Tuesday that he feels Northwestern is well positioned to compete in the brave new world of college football.
One example is with the early transfers he has at his disposal this spring. While Northwestern has been active in the transfer portal in the past, it was mostly in the spring and not the fall window. None of the previous transfers were able to enroll in January and then take part in all of spring practice.
That’s not the case this year. Thanks to a streamlined admissions process, Braun’s spring practice lineup includes new transfers like quarterback Preston Stone, guard Evan Beerntsen, cornerback Fred Davis II and wide receiver Griffin Wilde. All of them could start come for the Wildcats the fall.
Braun credited athletic director Mark Jackson, TrueNU executive director Jacob Schmidt and the entire Northwestern administration for making it happen and allowing his program to enjoy the same advantages that their competitors do.
“The work that Mark Jackson has done, the work that Central Campus and Admissions [has done] in terms of their willingness to work with us to get some of these transfers in prior to the winter quarter…has been critical to this team's development.
“The work that Jacob Schmidt has done with TrueNU and our collective, just an absolute game changer. The work that [football program general manager] Luke Walerius has done…I think we're up to 12 transfers that we've been able to bring in… We’ve got a lot of work to do, but where we're at as a program today, compared to where we were at a year ago, I'm more excited.”
Braun, who is just finishing up his second year as a head coach, deserves credit, too. Remember, this is a coach who is just two years removed from being an FCS defensive coordinator. Now, he is leading a Big Ten program through unprecedented times.
“I am so excited about the progress that we're making as a program…,” said Braun. “The last time that we had an opportunity to talk, I mentioned the landscape of college football is flipping on its head. We have to re-imagine everything. We have to evaluate everything. There's a lot of things that have been going on within our program that I've had to tell our staff in chaos there's opportunity.”
Northwestern didn’t land all of those transfers by just having them tour their $270 million practice palace on the shores of Lake Michigan. While the breathtaking views and cutting-edge facilities certainly helped, it takes NIL money to lure transfers to your campus these days.
Braun said that the program is well positioned to complete with its Big Ten rivals in terms of player compensation.
This summer, when the House Settlement decision is likely to be enacted, schools will be paying players directly as part of revenue sharing. Schools will be capable of funding up to $20.5 million to be paid directly to their athletes of all sports, and Braun says that Northwestern will fully fund the total.
In short, they are all in.
“I'm really excited about where we're at institutionally, with Mark's leadership and campus work and through all that. [I’m] very confident that we're going to be in a great place to compete in the Big Ten,” he said. “The new landscape of NIL, in terms of what NIL is and the clearinghouse that comes along with that, that's where I think we need to continue to be creative to provide opportunities for our guys to create opportunities beyond the revenue share for themselves.”
That proved to be the difference is getting players like Cam Porter and Carmine Bastone, who were both captains last season, to agree to come back for one more year in purple.
“It’s a big deal,” he said.
