LSU entered the college football transfer spring portal window with a glaring need on the defensive line but whiffed on its top targets and still has a major deficiency at a critical position. Head coach Brian Kelly chalked the swings and misses on the recruiting trail up to his unwillingness to pay players, but in the sport’s modern era, shying away from NIL payments is an unsustainable approach.
“It hasn’t fared very well, quite frankly, because we’re selling something a little bit differently,” Kelly said, via WAFB. “That is, we want to recruit. We want to engage, build relationships. We want to develop, retain and have success. We’re not in the market of buying players. Unfortunately, right now, that’s what some guys are looking for. They want to be bought.”
Recruiting players who seek to join a roster for the right reasons is a longstanding philosophy that produced plenty of success throughout college football history. While it still applies in 2024, coaches must also balance the reality that all prospects have an NIL market, particularly in the spring transfer window when teams desperately seek the final pieces of their rosters.