Troy Aikman vows he’s ‘done with NIL’ after poor experience

NFL legend details story of why he has been rubbed so wrong by new nature of NIL in college football

Former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The 1989 NFL Draft's No. 1 pick, a three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback named Troy Aikman, recently kicked up a fuss over the current age of college football with the NIL changes. After hearing his first-hand tale of woe, you might even agree with him.

According to Awful Announcing, Aikman was on a podcast this week where he shared that he actually did give money, and for a specific player, at UCLA. As can be the case in the modern college sports landscape, he claims that said player accepted the check, hardly offered a thanks, and then kindly decided he wanted to enter the transfer portal and go accept another deal from a new school. You can see why a UCLA alum like Troy Aikman was so upset.

"I gave money to a kid, I won’t mention who," said Aikman. "I’ve done it one time at UCLA, never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank-you note."

As much as he loves his school, Aikman is through with paying players who can leave right away.

UCLA Bruins quarterback Troy Aikman (8) back in the day | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

"So, it’s one of those deals to where I’m done with NIL," he added. "I want to see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.” That may be the case for Aikman until certain changes and rules are made to corral this sort of chaos a little more.

“There’s gotta be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up, starting with players that accept money.” Aikman pleaded. "There’s gotta be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf, to have to stick to a program."

As Aikman mentioned, he wrote a "sizable" check to a single player for his UCLA Bruins, the gold and blue that he represented strong in the mid to late 1980s. To see the player he sponsonored to come to the program turn around and not even thank Aikman for the money and then split town like a travelin' brand looking for their next gig — that's got to be infuriating. By his quotes, Aikman appears rather upset, going as far as to say he's done as a UCLA NIL donor for the time being.