THE PORTAL IS FINE FOR QBS AND JAYDEN DANIELS, BUT NIL REMAINS A MESS

As we try to figure out college football’s manic future, the transfer portal works well for quarterbacks — five Heisman Trophies in seven years — but the NCAA president attempts a forceful NIL shift

     A former Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker, is not Mark Emmert. He is trying to run the NCAA as if it’s on a local track, not careening off a precipice. It helps he played basketball at Harvard, coaxing the attention of Congress and the prized, still-underhanded athletes who make billions for their schools. Remember when Emmert was blitzed by a concept known as names, images and likenesses?

     The Supreme Court ravaged him, leaving Baker to offer a Division I pitch after the self-shattering NCAA provided no legitimate takes on NIL. Baker wants more than 350 universities, through highly resourced trust funds, to pay at least half their athletes an annual fee of $30,000 or more. This would be The New NIL, though it might take years, if ever.

     “It was a big mistake by the NCAA not to do a framework around NIL when they had the opportunity,” Baker said.

     “I think Charlie has indicated his intent for that to begin a discussion,” said Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, among those listening. “There’s certainly a lot of content included from which to begin a discussion.”

     The NIL platter remains a mess. When we’re not referring to Jim Harbaugh as a liar, the Michigan football coach is demanding more money for players. “NIL is so new, and it was voted 9-0 right? The Supreme Court voted 9-0,” he said of a June 2021 ruling. “I don’t think they’ve had a vote 9-0 on anything in the last 20 years. I don’t know.”

     What I know is that the same can’t be said for the NCAA transfer portal. Hardly tame — and allowing for obscene postseason scrambling — it does allow athletes to leave a program and become immediately eligible elsewhere. Does the roll call of new opportunities work? It’s certainly a boon for the quarterbacking game, the most protected position on god’s green pasturelands, with a transfer winning the Heisman Trophy for the fifth time in seven years Saturday night.

     His name is Jayden Daniels, who arrived at LSU after three seasons at Arizona State. By transferring from a losing program, he played for Brian Kelly and put up massive numbers, passing for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns while running for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns. A young man cannot average 10.7 yards per play and a nation-high 302 points and not win the 25-pound statue, shaking hands with winners from the past.

     “This is a dream come true,” Daniels said in New York, where his manuever should place him high in the NFL draft, where he’s viewed as a 6-4, all-methods playmaker when Caleb Williams — last year’s winner — is 6-1. Don’t be shocked if Williams, Daniels and Drake Maye place in the final four with the other Heisman finalist, receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.

     And don’t be shocked if two other quarterbacks beside Daniels also have long careers in the NFL. Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., who finished second, came by way of Indiana. Oregon’s Bo Nix, who finished third, arrived from Auburn. Williams, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield — all left one campus and benefited from another, with the likelihood of all four being overall No. 1 picks. “It’s different for everybody. It depends on how they want their life to go,” Daniels said. “We decided to transfer, and to start fresh, and to stay an extra year because we felt like we had something more to prove.”

     The quarterbacks have enjoyed most of the NIL money. All three were featured on advertisements during the Heisman telecast, with each showing up in Times Square at a fast-food chicken restaurant where they have deals. How tasteful to see Daniels on a billboard last weekend in Las Vegas, where Penix was beating Nix for the Pac-12 championship. “That Kid Jayden — The Best Player in College Football,” read the script. They’ve called him “Smooth” because, as he says, “It looks like I’m not running fast or running hard, but I’m moving faster than what most people think.”

     “His ability to run when things are not there is unique,” Kelly said. “His speed, his durability, his toughness, puts him up there with the great ones.”

     Becoming a “great one” was not possible at Arizona State. In the SEC, Daniels enhanced his life though LSU missed on a College Football Playoff bid. So why stay in Tempe when rules permit relocation? Transfers often don’t work on both ends. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney continues to bemoan his team’s recent slumber, blaming roster shortages. Funny how that isn’t the case at Michigan, Alabama or Georgia. “The problem is tampering," Swinney said. “And we could fix it easily if they'd let football people fix it. But they usually don't listen to us.” The best coaches, those who are forward-thinking, will thrive. See if Dabo keeps moping.

     And Kentucky’s Mike Stoops, who said this year: “I can promise you — Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You’re allowed to these days, and we could use some help. That’s what they look like, you know what I mean, when you have 85 of ’em. I encourage anybody that’s disgruntled to pony up some more.”

     And North Carolina State’s Dave Doeren: “For all you folks that want us to keep winning, I would tell you to get on Savage Wolves (a collective), find that link. I’d love to see 5,000 people donate $1,000 to our NIL and get us to a point where we can recruit, retain and develop and have a program in the NIL world.”

     And Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck: “We’ll be a Triple-A ballclub for somebody else. That is the reality and the truth of the situation. So, please contact Dinkytown Athletes.”

     For quarterbacks, the path is anything but Dinkytown. Dillon Gabriel, who led Oklahoma to an upset of CFP-bound Texas, entered the portal and will replace Nix at Oregon. He’s losing offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who accepted the head-coaching job at Mississippi State, and the final season of eligibility is key for an an NFL hopeful. Duke’s Riley Leonard, who lost head coach Mike Elko to Texas A&M, is visiting Notre Dame. Grayson McCall is departing Coastal Carolina and trying to hook up with Doeren. Oregon State’s DJ Uiagalelei wants his third program in three years. UCLA’s Dante Moore keeps his coach, Chip Kelly, but wants the enchanting portal. And Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, who threw the final interception in losing at Michigan? He’s gone, too, with Washington State’s Cameron Ward. At Utah, where injury-plagued Cam Rising is returning for a seventh season, the players who have started for him are transferring.

     Bouncing around atop piano keys isn’t the ideal way to teach kids about life. But then you see Daniels hoist the 89th award. “I want to thank all my teammates, from Arizona State to LSU,” he said in his silver suit. “You're my brothers. You work so hard every day, inspiring me to be my best.”

     Two schools. New life. Money awaits.

     The Heisman Trophy allows way too many voters — 870, for some reason — to submit ballots. Some aren’t worthy of the honor. As players keep uprooting, they might need help in identifying who’s who.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.