U.S. senator backs Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders' stance on NIL

United States senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) backed Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders' stance on NIL and how it arguably retired the greatest coach the sport has ever seen, Nick Saban.

"Coach Saban’s retirement is a big loss for football fans, but the worst may be to come," Tuberville wrote in an OutKick op-ed. "As Colorado’s Coach Deion Sanders put it, 'The game has changed so much that it chased the GOAT away.' Coach Prime is right. Ever since the Supreme Court ruled that student-athletes could be paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), we have been in a brave new world for college athletics."

Just like how Coach Prime doesn't want Colorado to be an ATM, Tuberville doesn't want any school to be throwing millions of dollars at high school players.

"As a result of this new situation, college sports have turned into the Wild West, with bidding wars for football players now starting with freshmen in high school," Tuberville wrote. "It will soon be impossible for any coach to build a team, knowing that his best players are highly incentivized to enter the transfer portal, which they are allowed to do at least once for no reason whatsoever. It is as if every player in the pros became a free agent every single year. Frankly this sends the wrong message, telling our young people to abandon their teams or avoid committing to anything bigger than yourself."

Colorado football falling behind in the NIL era even with Deion Sanders

Even with the "Prime Effect" running wild in Boulder, Colorado is still not a powerhouse in the same vein as an Ohio State or a Texas. Or anywhere close. Coach Prime sold Jordan Seaton on playing for someone who looked like him, and maybe there was a pay-to-play arrangement agreed upon, but CU doesn't have the means to have an entire class worth of blue-chips like him.

NIL is spiraling out of control, and Colorado has nothing resembling a stranglehold on it as its going down.