Boise State football’s Spencer Danielson clarifies controversial comment about freshmen not getting NIL money

The landscape of college football has changed dramatically in recent years because of NIL, and it can be a slippery slope. Right now, every school does things differently. Some schools use NIL money to get high school recruits to come play for them, guaranteeing them money before they even play. Some schools don't do that, and of those schools in Boise State football.

Boise State football head coach Spencer Danielson recently discussed NIL and how the Broncos are approaching things. Danielson isn't the type of coach that is just going to hand out NIL money for committing. He wants his players to earn it.

“If you’re looking for the easy way and you’re looking for a handout, don’t come to Boise State,” Spencer Danielson said, according to an article from On3.

Shortly after making that comment, Danielson decided that he wanted to clarify his message while speaking on a local radio show. Danielson isn't going to tell a player that if he commits to Boise State then he is going to get this or that. Nothing is promised, but NIL opportunities are still there from the start.

“When we recruit freshmen, no NIL or collective (money) is promised to anybody,” Danielson clarified. “Now, any athlete can go out and get NIL opportunities in the community where they’re from or here at Boise State. That is up to them. That’s between them and what they want to do. But for us, when we recruit young men, it is not about, if you come here, this is what we’re going to be able to do for you. This is how we’re going to develop you. We’re a developmental program. What I was talking about earlier today, all of the freshmen that come in here are not promised anything. They’re promised a chance to compete.”

When NIL money became a thing, this is how it was expected to be used. However, there are no rules against using money from collectives to help land a recruit. There are schools that guarantee a freshman money just for coming to play. Boise State football is not one of those schools, however.

NIL has changed the game

NIL is making a lot of people nervous about the future of college football. We are still in the beginning of this new era of the sport, and there are certainly some things to work out as time goes on. Right now, bigger schools with more resources are pulling even farther away from smaller schools because of NIL, and people are worried that those big schools are going to become too dominant and that the same teams will rule the college football world year in and year out.

There will likely be more rules and regulations added to the NIL game as time goes on. These players do deserve to profit off of their name, image and likeness, but it has to be done in a way that isn't going to hurt the game. It's going to be interesting to see how things change as time goes on in this new era of college sports.