Would love to hear De1's response. Can't speak to Akers, but regarding Newton there was an ESPN article circulating after the fact that accused Newton of claiming a $200k offer and seeking $180k from MSU. Months before it all became news, someone on the MSU side told me Newton received $140k. Who knows what the true number is. Regarding Brian Darden, we outbid MSU and secured his services for $160k and that was in the 90s.... Would be interested in knowing what it would have taken to get Akers and Nolen. The NIL stuff adds a whole new layer of complexity to this... OSU freshman QB Quinn Ewers received a $1.4M deal and is currently buried on the depth chart as their 3rd string QB. One of Bryce Young's deals is worth more than $800k...
I think De1's point is valid... we aren't going to land the top ranked players in the country as long as our guys are only receiving deals from local air conditioning services and off-brand apparel companies. When our guys start receiving deals in the neighborhood of $1M, I believe we can contend for elite prospects again. Until then, I'm not expecting to land guys like Walter Nolen or Arch Manning.
