Hugh Freeze compares rev-share talks to poker, questions ‘outside NIL’ offers

Aug. 1 was a landmark date in college football. Schools could officially offer written revenue-sharing contracts to recruits, though they cannot be signed until their respective signing dates.

Although those offers can go out, On3’s Pete Nakos reported some top programs are holding them. Wednesday, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze told reporters he hasn’t heard of any teams sending out written rev-share offers to recruits.

In fact, Freeze compared that approach to a game of poker. He also noted unknowns with regard to “outside NIL” and what that could look like in the post-House settlement landscape.

“It’s kind of like poker,” Freeze said. “I don’t know. … There haven’t been a lot that I know of that really sent out something in writing, detailing exactly what they mean when they say, this is going to be your share of whatever – whether it’s NIL, whether it’s revenue-sharing. I still think it remains to be seen.

“There are so many different dynamics, whether it’s this is being signed over here in Congress. I still am not clear as to what you really can do outside the revenue-sharing portion. I know very clearly where we stand with that.”

Hugh Freeze: Clearinghouse unknowns could lead to ‘deceiving’

After approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, the NIL Go clearinghouse went into effect. Operated by Deloitte, it vets NIL deals worth more than $600 for a “fair market value” evaluation.

The College Sports Commission initially sent out guidance regarding booster-funded collectives, but later paved the way for them to continue paying athletes. Third-party deals were also a key part of President Donald Trump’sexecutive order on college sports.

Still, Hugh Freeze said he has questions about promises schools make to recruits about third-party deals. he credited Auburn athletics director John Cohen for planning for those opportunities, but he also noted questions he has for the clearinghouse and whether it would approve or deny those agreements. That unknown, he said, is why he has concerns about those assurances.

“What I don’t know how anybody can say with a straight face without deceiving is, what does Deloitte say about those deals and the value of them for a high school kid?” Freeze said. “I’m pretty confident that the transfer kid has probably earned the right that you can say to him, you’re going to get some outside NIL deals and give samples of what’s happened in the past for a similar player at that position, if that make sense. The totally unknown for me is, how do you even remotely say that to a high school kid when Deloitte cannot do that until they get to campus?

“I don’t know if that makes sense what I’m saying. Maybe I’m saying too much. I don’t know. But that’s as real as I can put it. If you can’t do that until they get to campus, to me, it’s really very, very subjective as to what’s truth and what’s not outside the revenue-sharing portion. So we’re still battling through that. But I’m comfortable we have the means to compete with most because of the job that, again, our marketing and John’s team have done. We stand ready to go when we feel like we’re not going to deceive anybody.”