Marcello's Mailbag: The not-so-simple solution to never-ending NIL negotiations and transfer portal turmoil

Welcome to Marcello's Mailbag, where college football is always at the top of the pile. This is a safe space to ask questions without fear or ridicule. No question is dumb, though there might be dumb answers. Luckily, I'm willing to be the jester, but more often than not, you'll receive the information you need to understand the world's most magical sport. Got a question? Email me.

The Transfer Portal is wide open, the NFL Draft is set for Thursday and several college teams are still conducting spring practices.

The portal closes Wednesday with North Carolina and Syracuse both making moves in the quarterback market.

Two thoughts on the week ahead before getting to your questions:

Why can't Travis Hunter play both cornerback and receiver in the NFL? Because the NFL won't give the rookie the benefit of the doubt. Hunter averaged 111.5 snaps per game at Colorado, which takes a toll on the body, but consider that Deion Sanders allowed Hunter to sit out practices to rest and recover between games. That won't happen in the NFL, particularly for a rookie. With so much money on the line, no NFL coach or general manager will allow Hunter to sit out practices as veterans sweat and bleed on the field. That's a shame. Coaches should adjust their philosophy based on a player's abilities. It's not a stretch to consider changing your way of thinking when you draft a once-in-a-generation player. I'd try Hunter at both spots, or at least leave the door open for consideration in the near future.

At least 14 teams will conduct some variation of a spring game on Saturday. I have my eyes on:

• Oregon: What shape does the offense take with quarterback Dante Moore, the former 5-star recruit who has patiently waited his turn in line?
• Maryland: We might be obsessed with quarterbacks in this Mailbag, but that's the name of the game when the best of the best fetch $4 million. Maryland was a mess last season, and with a new offensive coordinator, the Terps have a quarterback battle on their hands for the first time in four years.

-- Graham K, Bluesky

So much for an extended search for a new quarterback.

Tennessee effectively completed a quarterback swap Monday, landing Joey Aguilar from UCLA just 24 hours after Nico Iamaleava officially transferred to the Bruins.

I predicted Monday morning that the Vols would pursue Aguilar, so here's a quick update -- and a better explanation of why Tennessee might have come out ahead in this exchange.

Aguilar was one of the nation's top Group of Five quarterbacks at Appalachian State, throwing for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns across two seasons. He also brings more experience than Iamaleava. Aguilar spent two seasons at Diablo Valley Community College before transferring to App State, where he caught the attention of Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown. He led the Mountaineers into a double-overtime thriller against North Carolina, exploiting the Tar Heels' defense with short, accurate passes.

I like Aguilar's fit in Tennessee's offense, which favors seasoned quarterbacks with strong arms. He broke App State's single-season passing record and brings a fearless edge that was missing under Iamaleava. On the flip side, Aguilar might have been a poor fit for UCLA, which runs a more conservative scheme.

Elsewhere in the quarterback market, things are starting to settle. Notre Dame transfer Steve Angeli -- once a legitimate contender to start for the Irish -- is visiting Syracuse this week. He led an impressive drive against Penn State in the College Football Playoff.

Meanwhile, Jaden Rashada is on the move again. After spending a year at Georgia, he filed a lawsuit against Florida coach Billy Napier over an alleged $13.8 million NIL deal. Rashada is expected to visit North Carolina soon.

-- War Ready81, X

It's a complex issue, but one major first step could provide clarity: collective bargaining.

Yes, I believe players should have representation at the negotiating table. Forming a players association for college football is a complicated endeavor, but it's more practical than forcing future athletes to appear in court each year to propose changes to the House settlement.

This isn't just about money. Once the power conferences' soon-to-be-announced College Sports Commission begins overseeing the new revenue-sharing model, a players organization could negotiate health care benefits, weigh in on transfer portal windows and help shape the format of spring practices.

It may sound like a simple solution, but it's not. Schools remain reluctant to classify players as employees, and the federal government still needs to codify parts -- or all -- of the House settlement to establish legal protections for everyone involved.

Ultimately, schools, players and the government must reach a compromise. That could mean assigning players a special classification -- employee or not. The U.S. Supreme Court took a similar approach in 1922 when it ruled Major League Baseball was a "uniquely American enterprise," exempting the league from the Sherman Antitrust Act. A similar ruling could give the NCAA or the College Sports Commission some form of antitrust protection -- while finally giving players a central role in negotiations.

Remember, while NIL has been touted as a win for players, it's still administrators -- not athletes -- who decide what's "good" for so-called amateur sports.

College athletics is a uniquely American institution and demands a different set of guidelines -- ideally, a semi-professional model grounded in higher education. There's nothing else like it in the world.

It's a complex situation that will require more than a keyboard hack to fix. We may still be years away from establishing a players association, but it may be the only way to bring order to the chaos.

-- Andrew B, X

Once upon a time, many wondered whether a national database listing every NIL deal could be created to help "regulate" the space. Legally, that was never going to happen.

With revenue sharing on the horizon once the House v. NCAA lawsuit is resolved, I believe it could -- and should -- be reconsidered.

The reason is simple: public universities will soon share revenue with athletes. And just like coaches' contracts are accessible through open records requests, shouldn't the new contracts with players also be available? We'll find out July 1, when folks like me start submitting Freedom of Information Act requests.

As for the money paid by NIL collectives to supplement the revenue shares? Those deals are probably still off-limits. But public institutions should be required to release revenue-sharing agreements upon request.

Stay tuned.

-- Greg Mittelman, Bluesky

Thanks for the well-timed question.

Top-tier kicker Bert Auburn just entered the transfer portal after a mostly strong career at Texas, offering a perfect case study in evaluating an elite kicker's value in the portal era.

Still, you know the narrative: no one thinks about the kicker until the game is on the line. Then they miss wide left, and suddenly they're seen as the worst player on the roster -- even if they rank among the top field-goal kickers in the country. Poor kickers.

Well, not poor anymore.

I spoke with a few leaders in the NIL space to better answer your question and learned that top kickers typically earn between $200,000-$300,000. That's quite a payday for someone who is on the field maybe a half-dozen times a game. And yet, is it enough? Other than the quarterback, I'm not sure any player absorbs more criticism and receives less praise for simply doing their job. Not every 30-yard field goal is automatic, but it's often expected.

Take Auburn, for example. He made 82.9% of his field goals in 2023, including a 54-yarder, and co-led the nation with 2.1 made field goals per game. But in 2024, he fell to 68th nationally at 1.1 per game. Worse, he didn't even crack the top 100 in accuracy, making just 64% -- a career low. He also struggled in the postseason, missing two kicks in a 3-point overtime loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship and two more in a closer-than-expected College Football Playoff win over Arizona State.

Never mind that he made four field goals in the SEC title game. His two third-quarter misses -- from 42 and 51 yards -- were costly, but going 4-for-6 in a single game is still solid. He was clearly shakier in the fourth quarter of Arizona State's comeback, missing two kicks in the final 99 seconds of regulation to help the Sun Devils force overtime.

Auburn should land a strong NIL deal somewhere.