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Lane Kiffin has become the latest SEC head coach to jab at Texas A&M’s NIL spending during the conference’s spring meetings. The Ole Miss leader finds it laughable that Jimbo Fisher still denies NIL playing a major role in landing the No. 1 recruiting class of all-time.
Kiffin’s comments on his Western Division rival have sparked a reaction from college football fans online.
NIL has obviously become a major recruiting tool around the world of college athletics, and it can certainly influence a prospect’s decision on where they intend to play.
We saw it firsthand in the 2022 football cycle when the Aggies reeled in the top class ever despite coming off just an eight-win season. Coincidentally, those signings came during the first full year of the new name, image, and likeness guidelines.
Some insinuated that the program spent upwards of $30 million to land that historic group, though Jimbo Fisher denies NIL’s impact in decision making.
Lane Kiffin isn’t buying the narrative that talented players just love Texas A&M, a school with just one 10-win season since the turn of the century.
Here’s what he had to say at the SEC spring meetings.
“Some people say certain things and it just cracks me up,” said Kiffin. “I struggle letting it go on those types of things. My SID tells me to let it go, but when someone says that NIL has nothing to do with why someone signing the best class in the history of recruiting, I struggle with that statement.”
Fans were quick to react.
One person wrote, “Jimbo’s an absolute joke. NO ONE takes him seriously outside of A&M.”
Someone else said, “Lane is speaking facts.”
Lane Kiffin wasn’t the only one talking about the Aggies. Nick Saban called Texas A&M’s NIL spending out at the spring meetings, too, possibly in an attempt to get the attention of his boosters.
This, coming just a year after a heated back-and-forth between Fisher and Saban last offseason.
Unfortunately for the Aggies, much of that top-rated class has now left College Station. They’ll look to improve on the field in 2023 following a 5-7 season.