NIL Market Range and Questions About Spartan Transfer Class

The Michigan State Spartans have collected one of the best transfer classes in the country this spring. How much could it have cost?

Michigan State's interim head coach Harlon Barnett, left, pats Simeon Barrow Jr. on the helmet during the first quarter in the game against Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA

Michigan State and head coach Jonathan Smith have secured the No. 12 transfer class, per 247Sports.

There are players in the class sure to be Day 1 starters and contributors -- quarterback Aidan Chiles, linebacker Wayne Matthews III, tackle Tanner Miller, and tight end Jack Velling, to name a few.

But with building such a talented transfer class in the age of NIL -- what could have been the cost?

A recent article from CBS Sports' John Talty attempted to break down the exact market value for players in the transfer portal.

Talty clarified:

"There is no centralized data ... CBS Sports attempted to put together as accurate a market assessment as possible. We talked to NIL agents, collective operators, college coaches and personnel staffers, players and their parents and others with knowledge of the space. There will always be outliers, but this is our best effort at establishing the market range for Power Four starters at each position. These numbers also take into account what we believe to be the retention cost to keep a player from hitting the transfer portal."

Talty wrote that, to no one's surprise, the quarterback is the most valuable position in college football, just like in the NFL. The price of which led one SEC coach to spurn the transfer portal altogether for the position.

"The industry agrees that you can get a quality starting Power Four quarterback in the $500,000 to $800,000 range," Talty wrote. "Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said he couldn't bring himself to spend $1 million on a transfer quarterback, especially with Payton Thorne already on the roster. Thorne arrived at Auburn in spring 2023 after 26 games as Michigan State's starter. Freeze's comments invoked ire from collective operators frustrated with coaches complaining about the costs of doing business."

Running backs were found to make between $200,000 to $300,000 and "on the low end of a program's salary", though some schools were willing to "spend well beyond that range to either keep or acquire elite running backs."

Per Talty, Oregon State running back Damian Martinez was slated to make $400,000, before leaving for the Miami Hurricanes.

Wide receivers vary -- $75,000 to $300,000. Offensive lineman, like the NFL, fetch a high price -- $350,000 to almost half a million dollars.

"A lot of money is spent on retention to prevent the top offensive linemen from ever hitting the market, which mirrors what typically happens at the next level," Talty wrote.

The article cited former Michigan State defensive lineman Derrick Harmon when referencing the price of the position -- saying "multiple sources" pointed to Harmon in the "high six figures to low seven figures range."

Talty found that the cost of good linebackers and defensive backs was variable, and former being the hardest to "pin down", but the high end for a linebacker was considered to be $600,000 and "surefire, elite starters" at defensive back would earn up to $400,000.

One might consider how much Chiles, one of the top transfer quarterbacks in the portal and a player garnering Heisman talk before a single snap, would have cost. Could there have been a discount since he followed his head coach to East Lansing? Potential impact players at linebacker and cornerback like Matthews and Ed Woods, respectively, ought to have had a decent price tag. Right?

Talty's findings may not have been concrete, and there is no "centralized data", but his work certainly poses questions about just how much the Spartans' transfer class could have cost.

Michael France is Sports Illustrated's Michigan State recruiting beat writer, covering all things Big Ten recruiting for Spartan Nation. Be sure to follow him on Twitter/X@michaelfrancesi for exclusive Spartans recruiting coverage.

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