I’ve got to admit this is pretty rich, coming from a guy who writes for a recruiting site.
The transfer portal was originally thought to be a place for unhappy players to get a reboot, or perhaps smaller school players getting a chance to step up in competition. What it has become instead is free agency and an opportunity for the strong to get even stronger in college football.
… So what does it all mean? It means the rich will continue to get richer and the rest will fall behind, because these aren’t players who simply couldn’t cut it at another school. Sure, some have issues, like Kendrick and Gilbert, but most are just talented players looking for a better spot to try to win a national title and pursue their NFL dreams.
Many changes need to occur when it comes to the transfer portal, and here’s a suggestion: Any team that has made the college football playoff in the last three years gets hit two scholarships for each transfer.
Yeah, I’m sure that’ll be adopted tomorrow.
It’s probably not overly well thought out…
‘Ya think?
… but something has to happen as a lack of parity in college football is making things a bit boring.
For a long time, sponsored content on Twitter has often been reserved for some of the most powerful sports leagues and media companies in America.
Promoted video tweets from the likes of the NFL, PGA Tour and ESPN conveniently find their way onto a user’s timeline featuring pre-roll advertisements that Twitterers must watch to access the content. The revenue from those ads is then shared by both Twitter and the publishing companies in a money-making venture that produces upward of seven-figure campaigns.
Soon, college athletes can access this cash cow.
The social media company is partnering with Opendorse in a revenue-sharing venture to allow college athletes to monetize their content through Twitter’s video sponsorship platform Amplify.
Here’s an example of how that might work:
The deal between Twitter and Opendorse, a sports content publisher, will allow brands, such as Nike, Adidas and Coke, to pitch ideas and compensate athletes for participating in Twitter video campaigns built around a selected theme and geared toward fans of a specific audience.
For instance, Nike may propose a $100,000 ad campaign about workout training tips from Division I basketball players. Using Opendorse Deals—the company’s compliant marketplace—college basketball players who choose to opt into the campaign would create short video clips about their training, post them on their timeline and then, depending on the clip’s viewership, would each receive a cut of the ad budget, sharing the money with other athletes, Opendorse and Twitter.
Athletes will retain the majority of generated revenue, officials from Twitter and Opendorse say.
Many people worrying about the unseen consequences stemming from allowing NIL compensation aren’t seeing the value coming out of social media promotion, for whatever reason. It’s going to be a bigger part of the equation than you think.
In simple terms, Lawrence says, the larger an athlete’s following and the more quality content they produce, the more likely they are to earn more revenue. The number of athletes participating in a specific deal also impacts an athlete’s revenue cut.
As you guys know, I scour the Internet on a pretty thorough basis for the blog. More than five years into Smart’s run as Georgia’s head coach, I’m not sure I’ve seen anything he’s done in that time draw as much of a (virtual) reaction as the twin signings of Derion Kendrick and Arik Gilbert have. Twitter, message boards, web sites — you name it, there’s been a ton of takes running the gamut. (One outlier is StingTalk, but that’s because they’re going through one of their periodic episodes when they close the joint to outsiders. Our loss, I guess.)
While it’s fun to bask in the angst of rival fan bases’ sour grapes, and sour is almost an understatement there, I do think there’s something more worth our focus. I touched on it when I posted about Brandon Marcello’s “no excuses” piece yesterday and reiterated what I thought with this tweet.
Yeah. It's not a fan boy assessment. It's that recruiting is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. At some point, that's got to translate into enough wins on the field to win championships.
With this year's schedule, this point is as good as any.
At some point, if you’re building a team expected to compete for national championships, and doing that job well, plans have to come to fruition. The general perception, and this Chris Hummer post at Dawgs247 is a good example of that, is that the time is now.
“Every team, even contenders, has a concern. It was cornerback for Georgia after losing Eric Stokes, Tyson Campbell and Tyrique Stevenson in the same offseason. That worry seems silly in June as Georgia added two All-American candidates via the transfer portal (Tykee Smith, Kendrick) and will reclaim the services of the No. 1 cornerback in the 2020 class (Kelee Ringo) after he missed last season with an injury.
That’s a long preamble. But it’s important to note because one thing is clear with UGA’s roster: There are no true weakness. Will Georgia miss George Pickens? Of course. Does the offensive line have a few questions? It does. Yet after pulling in five straight top 4 recruiting classes, there are no holes. Smart’s roster is loaded. He has his quarterback. He has a schedule in which Georgia should be favored in every game but one (Clemson). Other contenders nationally are resetting at critical positions. Everything is positioned for Georgia to emerge as a national champion.
This won’t be Smart’s only chance to win a national title in Athens. But it’s his best chance for the foreseeable future.”
There is no such thing as a perfect roster in college football. The question is whether a team has put together a championship caliber roster. Like it or not, the general perception is that Kirby Smart has stepped over that bar. Also like it or not, the staff and players are going to marinade in rat poison between now and the season opener against Clemson. Yes, they’ve had the spotlight shine on them before, particularly after the success of the 2017 season, but, if the last day or so is any indication, it looks to be more intense than ever this year.
Will this Georgia team hold up? It’s impossible to say from here. The transfer portal taketh and the transfer portal giveth; how that impacts team chemistry is something we won’t know until they start playing the games. Then there’s Smart himself, entering his sixth season, facing the reality of a downward projection for his program since that stellar 2017 season. What has he learned along the way? It’s one thing to say pressure is a privilege. It’s another to live it, especially when Alabama’s been there more often than not to spoil the party.
"They should run away from everybody on their schedule after Clemson." –@bmarcello forecasts a season of blowouts for the Dawgs. pic.twitter.com/PPvwzy2Bqk
Yeah, I mean, beat every team in the East by double digits? Why, you’d have to go all the way back to the 2018 season to find a Georgia squad that accomplished that. And then you’d have to go back an entire season before that!
In fact, given that Florida managed to do it just last year, it’s not exactly an unheard of event. But I suspect Finebaum knows that.
Best bet — Georgia (+250): Chill out, Bama fans. This isn’t a slight against your program. But this Georgia squad is in the perfect spot to waltz through the SEC East, into the SEC Championship Game and out of Mercedes-Benz Stadium as conference champions. Coach Kirby Smart has one of the top quarterbacks in the conference in JT Daniels, one of the best running back rooms in the country, a highly-talented offensive line and a defense that has become a force in college football. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to pick the Bulldogs to win their first title since 2017. But getting them at +250 is an extremely low-risk, high-reward investment.
Worst wager — Florida (+1200): The defending SEC East champs are picked to be Georgia’s biggest threat, but a bet on the Gators will be more of a long shot than a responsible investment. Florida has to break in new quarterback Emory Jones, it has an average offensive line and rushing attack, and its defense — at last check — is still coordinated by the much-maligned Todd Grantham. What’s more, Dan Mullen’s crew gets Alabama as its rotating SEC West opponent and has to go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on LSU in its permanent cross-division rivalry game. The Gators are much closer to being third in the East this season than they are to being first.
I can’t say I admire Kanell, but I have to admit, when it comes to dogging the SEC, the man is relentless.
The SEC gets such favored treatment due to the Top 25 rankings. It’s unreal how well they market teams in ALL sports and it always gifts them chances for titles. The latest example??
That’s a fucking comment about college baseball. I guess the mere thought of Alabama triggers a Pavlovian response from the guy.
By the way, it appears Kanell is honing in on a program we know and love.
Coaches should value character as much as star ratings. Selling your soul just to get talent with checkered pasts can be risky….but I guess at some point you just throw caution to the wind…Go Dawgs!!!
Pretty interesting….the line in the Clemson vs UGa game has not budged. Clemson still favored to win by 3. Nor did Alabama's odds to win the SEC. Still the favorite.
So I guess championships are not given out in June.
“If a team can’t really run the ball on you then what’s the next thing they’re going to have to do? Pass,” (Adam) Anderson said. “So when you can stop them both ways, then what else can you do next? Gimmicks?” -- The Athletic, 10/13/21
