A Grip on Sports: NIL has become a huge part of recruiting in college football, teaming with the transfer portal to change the game

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The rumors abound. How Name, Image and Likeness money is being thrown around in college football like good old-fashioned graft, most of it aimed at players at other colleges. People taking advantage of a hastily crafted rule change? Why, we never.

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• The Athletic’s David Ubben tried to get to truth of the rumors this week, interviewing many college football coaches about the new world order. It’s a can’t-miss story if you want to understand the changes.

NIL and the transfer portal have been thrown into the sport at about the same time and they seem to be working hand-in-hand. The schools have needs. Hundreds of players are in the portal. It’s basically NFL free agency without the collective bargained rules and limits.

Heck, even schools with relatively limited resources like Washington State understand they have to be involved in a significant way.

But it may not matter how many resources are thrown players way. With no limits on the transfer portal – the NCAA is afraid to hinder player transfer at all right now due to recent court rulings – and NIL still in infancy, the rich will always get richer. Just because they are rich.

The middle class will have to come up with different ways to compete. They are trying, making changes to the way they interact with their athletes.

Many of the changes are positive for all players. More support staff. More emphasis on culture. More player engagement. Better recruiting strategies. Such things probably should have been done years ago but weren’t necessary, so they fell by the wayside. Now they are not just needed but imperative.

Still, such measures can only go so far, sort of like a fullback dive. The deep passes are being thrown by programs with deep pockets.

The worry is simple. Say an SEC school loses a key receiver in spring drills to an ACL injury. There is nothing in the rules to keep it from marshaling booster-supported resources, identifying players at other schools that might fill the hole and making contact. Someone will answer the siren’s call. A school in the Northwest, for example, may just lose a key part of its offense in April. The only way to patch the hole? Yep, try to entice another player at another school to make a late move.

And, to think, we never thought musical chairs would be become popular.

• Before the season began, we had a short chat with Gonzaga coach Mark Few. He was worried about how young his team was going to be. Talented, yes, but young. But you know what? Time cures that problem. And it’s passed.

The passage of time showed Thursday night against Loyola Marymount. Chet Holmgren, Nolan Hickman and Hunter Sallis don’t seem the same – in a good way.

The three freshmen have taken strides, some more quickly than others (Holmgren). But even the NBA-lock 7-footer went through a stretch in which he wasn’t as impactful has he’s become. As for Hickman and Sallis, their natural ability has been complimented by the comfort of understanding what’s needed to compete. It’s one thing to be told you need to do “X,” it’s another to be confronted by it. And then accomplishing the task on a nightly basis.

The trio’s emergence can only be a good thing as Gonzaga heads toward the most important months of its season.

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Gonzaga: The Zags host Portland this evening, hoping to keep former Eastern coach Shantay Legans’ team below .500 in West Coast Conference play. Jim Meehan has a preview and a look at the key matchup. … Theo Lawson took some time yesterday to look back at the Loyola Marymount win, a story we also linked above. … The women are in a much warmer state. They are in California, and will face San Diego today. Jim Allen has a preview in which he looks at their outstanding free throw shooting. … Around the WCC, Santa Clara’s win over BYU is pretty damaging for the Cougars. They face Pacific today. … The BYU women, despite a high seed in the mock brackets, was snubbed by the NCAA in the first top-16 reveal.

WSU: It wasn’t easy and it took some clutch shooting to earn an overtime period. But the Cougar women got past Washington last night 60-56, earning a win against the Huskies for the seventh time in eight tries under Kamie Ethridge. Colton Clark was in Beasley Coliseum last night and has this story. … The Cougars have filled out a boatload of behind-the-scenes positions within the football program. There will be a lot of new faces walking the halls. Colton has that news as well. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and college basketball, home is where the points are for one Washington player. … Oregon State has to improve in most every phase. … Arizona and Arizona State meet with both teams fighting injuries. … Stanford will try to pull another upset today in Pauley against UCLA. … USC needs to bounce back against California after Thursday night’s loss. … Utah is struggling but that hasn’t changed some players’ outlook. … Inconsistent play has hampered Colorado. … The Oregon State women battled back for an overtime win over USC. Meanwhile, UCLA’s injury problems have forced the Bruins to forfeit their game against Oregon. Or, as the NCAA records it, yield a no contest. … In football news, Oregon has a couple of new assistants who traveled with some heavy baggage. … Speaking of baggage, the NCAA issues Arizona State is still facing isn’t going away soon. And they seemed to have cost former EWU assistant Zak Hill his job. … Arizona defied the odds and put together a great recruiting class. … Finally, UCLA’s athletic deficit for 2021 was $62.5 million.

EWU: The Eagle men are in Missoula to face Montana. … Around the Big Sky, a Northern Arizona freshman has begun to assert himself. … In football news, Montana State has filled its defensive coordinator spot.

Whitworth: The Pirate men kept their usual spot atop the Northwest Conference standings with a 102-89 win over visiting Willamette.

Preps: Dave Nichols headed out to Gonzaga Prep last night and covered the Bullpups’ two victories over University. … James Snook was there as well as has this photo gallery. … Dave has a roundup of the rest of the action as well. … Former Lewis and Clark High star Briann January is reportedly heading home. Well, sort of. She’s about to sign a contract with the Seattle Storm.

Chiefs: Seattle pinned another lopsided loss on Spokane last night, winning 7-0 at the Arena. Kevin Dudley has the game coverage.

Seahawks: The Hawks still have one of the best receiving duos in the NFL.

Kraken: Seattle’s game in New York today with the Islanders has been postponed. This time the change was weather related.

Storm: We linked the news of January and the free agent’s possible signing with Seattle in our prep section above. That’s pretty cool.

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• This Saturday is really crowded for your favorite Grip on Sports columnist. So crowded, in fact, we won’t be able to take in the Gonzaga game tonight and write a TV Take. Your gain and my loss, I guess. Or the other way around. Like all things, it depends on your point of view. Until later …