Marshall Faulk is in his first year as the college football coach at Southern University. He is actively trying to get his players to leave at the end of the season so they can get paid NIL money.
It makes more sense than you think!
If the Jaguars win enough college football games in 2026, the players will be of interest to FBS programs as transfers during the offseason. Faulk wants them to reach what he calls “the money game.”
Marshall Faulk is still learning how to be a college football coach.
One of the greatest running backs in NFL history does not have any prior experience as a head coach on any level of the sport. The 53-year-old spent last season as the position coach at Colorado under Deion Sanders. He was hired at Southern in November.
Marshall Faulk’s first order of business was roster retention. Southern lost a few key starters to the transfer portal, including quarterback Jalen Woods, wide receiver Darren Morris and cornerback Treylan James. However, the Jaguars were able to add 49 new players, with 24 on offense and 23 on defense. Some of them were transfers, some of them were high school recruits.
Unfortunately, not everybody decided to stick around. Former Texas A&M running back Ronnie Crosby and former Louisiana-Lafayette wide receiver Charles Robertson did not show up to fall camp. They went through spring practice. Weird.
Nevertheless, Faulk is preparing for his first year at the helm with the guys who are on the field during the preseason and doing his best to shield them from spies. He is not quite sure how to define success in 2026 because his goal is to win every single game. The last two head coaches before him were fired in the middle of their second seasons.
Does Faulk get a longer leash? We’ll see. There might be an adjustment period but the pressure to win now is real.
Southern wants its players to leave after one season for more NIL money.
Even though Marshall Faulk is new to his current role, he already has a solid feel for the modern landscape of college football. Southern cannot compete with the sport’s biggest spenders and its first-year head coach is not going to pretend otherwise.
Athletes who succeed on the lower levels of competition, in this case the Football Championship Subdivision, are frequently poached by programs on the higher levels of competition, in this case the Football Bowl Subdivision. FBS programs are going to lure the top FCS players into the transfer portal and offer them a lot more NIL money to commit. It is what it is.
Faulk understands that the Jaguars do not have the financial resources to compete with an SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC program.
“I believe that the next level is no longer the NFL,” he said at SWAC Media Day in July. “We get poached by the FBS. They want our players.”
Therefore, his goal is to get his players to the new next level. He wants them to move on to bigger programs. That means they performed well while at Southern. The more players that perform well, the better chance to win.
Faulk recently explained his thinking on The Rich Eisen Show. If his players are getting the chance to play for more money at an FBS program, he is doing something right.
“I’m not trying to keep up [with the money game.] I’m just trying to get my kids to the money game. The money game is in the FBS. You got to be in the Power 3, 4, or 5 to really make the kind of money.”
The former NFL MVP remembers trying to leave San Diego State to get to the league as quickly as possible so he could get paid. Nowadays, athletes like Carson Beck don’t want to leave college because they are taking a pay cut in the NFL.
Faulk cannot blame them. He wants his players to get to that point. Even if it means he is dealing with radical roster turnover, that means Southern is winning. The goal is to win.