Ohio State received a commitment from Caleb Downs on Friday night and sent shockwaves across college football. The former Alabama defensive back entered the transfer portal shortly after Kalen DeBoer was announced as Nick Saban’s successor. He was considered a lock to Georgia.
However, it was the Buckeyes who got the job done.
The top-ranked player in the transfer portal stands 6-foot-0, 203 pounds. Downs was a five-star recruit in last year’s recruiting class and led the Crimson Tide with 107 tackles as a freshman.
Ohio State’s NIL collective — THE Foundation — wasted no time flexing its signing after the commitment was first announced. Pete Thamel broke the news at 8:35pm ET.
THE Foundation announced its “partnership” with Downs three minutes later and even included a wink.
Downs never formally declared his intentions to play in Columbus on X, formerly known as Twitter. He only shared THE Foundation’s post.
This is the new reality of college football!
Caleb Downs is getting paid paid.
Now, to be clear — THE Foundation is not the first collective to post a similar announcement. Any well-run collective is taking a similar, NFL free agency-like approach. Many of them are posting partnerships.
THE Foundation did the same thing with Will Howard, Jeremiah Smith, etc. It’s nothing new.
However, Downs’ signing in particular is a direct reflection of the NIL era. Everybody, literally everybody, outside of Ohio thought that he was going to play for Kirby Smart and his former Crimson Tide defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson in Athens. Georgia was a lock.
And then THE Foundation came in with a wink. Need more be said? One emoji says it all.
We don’t know how much NIL money Downs will get at Ohio State. However, a director of player personnel on the Power-5 level told 247 Sports that the superstar sophomore will get “top quarterback money.
He’s a true million-plus guy. Well worth the two more years you get out of him.
— P5 DPP
Ryan Day, with help of the university’s NIL arm, built a phenomenal roster for next season. Downs is the cherry on top.